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30M- 10/73 


COTTON 


l'i(  KlN(r   S(  E.NK. 
A  (ireat  field  white  with  bursting  bolls  and  dotted  by  a  score  or  more  of  dusky 
pickers,  and  the  hauntina:  melody  of  old-time  negro  songs — here  indeed  is  a  sight 
and  a  sound  never  to  be  forgotten. 


Ci^e  farm  Library 


COTTON 

Its   Cultivation,    Marketing,    Manufacture, 

and    the   Problems    of    the 

Cotton  World 


BY 

CHARLES   WILLIAM   BURKETT 

Professor  of  Agriculture,  North  Carolina  College  of  Agriculture  and 
Mechanic  Arts, 

AND 

CLARENCE   HAMILTON   POE 


NEW  YORK 
Doubleday,  Page  &  Company 
1906 


Copyright,  1906,  by  Doubleday,  Page  &  Company 
Published    July,  1906 


All  rights  reserved, 
including  thai  of  translation  into  foreign  la 
including  the  Scandinavian 


Yonder  bird, 

Which  floats,  as  if  at  rest, 

In  those  blue  tracts  above  the  thunder,  wher* 

No  vapors  cloud  the  stainless  air. 

And  never  sound  is  heard. 

Unless  at  such  rare  time 

When,  from  the  City  of  the  Blest, 

Rings  down  some  golden  chime. 

Sees  not  from  his  high  place. 

So  vast  a  cirque  of  summer  space 

As  widens  round  me  in  one  mighty  field, 

Which,  rimmed  by  seas  and  sands. 

Doth  hail  its  earliest  daylight  in  the  beams 

Of  gray  Atlantic  dawns; 

And,  broad  as  realms  made  up  of  many  lands, 

Is  lost  afar 

Behind  the  crimson  hills  and  purple  lawns 

Of  sunset,  among  plains  which  roll  their  streams 

Against  the  Evening  Star  ! 

And  lo  ! 

To  the  remotest  point  of  sight. 

Although  I  gaze  upon  no  waste  of  snow. 

The  endless  field  is  white; 

And  the  whole  landscape  glows. 

For  many  a  shining  league  away. 

With  such  accumulated  light 

As  Polar  lands  would  flash  beneath  a  tropic  day  ! 

—From  "The  Cotton  Boll,"  by  Henry  Timrod. 


82087 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTION:     HAIL,  THE    KING!  .       3 

SECTION  I.— KING  COTTON:  HIS  REALM 
AND  HIS  SUBJECTS 

Chapter    I. — History  of  Cotton:  From  Ancient  India  to 

Our  Own  Time  .  •  .  .  .13 

Chapter  II. — Acreage     and     Production:       Where     the 

World's  Supply  is  Grown        ,  .  .  .20 

Chapter  III. — Does   Foreign    Competition    Threaten   the 

South 's  Supremacy  ?  .  .  .  .27 

Chapter  IV. — The  Men  Who  Make  Cotton :  Whites  and 

Blacks;  Planters  and  Tenants  .  .  .35 

Chapter  v.— A    25,000,000  Bale  Crop:    Will  the  South 

Be  Ready  When  the  World  Demands  It  ?       .  .42 

Chapter  VI. — Cotton:  What  It  Means  and  Will  Mean  to 

the  Southern  States  .  .  .  .53 

Chapter  VII. — The  Organization  of  Cotton  Growers  and 

What  It  May  Accomplish       .  .  .  .58 

Chapter  VIII. — Stopping  the  Leaks  in  Cotton  Profits        .      68 

SECTION  II.— THE  COTTON  PLANT:  HOW   IT 
GROWS  AND  IS  GROWN 

Chapter  IX. — Structure  and  Botanical  Relations  .      77 

Chapter  X. —  Varieties  of  Cotton  and  Their  Classification       85 


viii  C01<iTE^TS— Continued 

PAGE 

Chapter  XI. — Breeding  Up  the  Cotton  Plant        .  .     93 

Chapter  XII. — The  King's  Realm:  The  Land  of  Sunshine  104 
Chapter  XIII. — Soils  and  How  to  Handle  Them  .    109 

Chapter  XIV. — Bringing  Exhausted  Soils  Back  to  Life  115 
Chapter  XV. — Cotton  Unique :  A  Self-Supporting  Crop  .  120 
Chapter  XVI.— Buying  Fertility  for  the  Soil         .  .126 

Chapter  XVII. — Farm-Made    Manures:    SavingFertility 

for  the  Soil    .  ,  .  .  .  .134 

Chapter  XVIII. — Home-Mixing     of    Fertilizers:     Saving 

the  Manufacturer's  Profit       .  .  •  .139 

Chapter  XIX. — The  Cotton  Farmer's  Equipment  of  Tools  147 
Chapter  XX. — Culture  From  Seed  to  Boll  .  .153 

Chapter  XXL— The  Ills  That  Cotton  Is  Heir  To  .    165 

Chapter  XXI I. — Insect  Enemies  of  the  Cotton  Plant  .  175 
Chapter  XXIII. — Harvest  Time  in  the  Cotton  Field  .    194 

Chapter  XXIV.— What  Does  It  Cost  to  Make  Cotton  >     .   200 


SECTION  III.— MARKETING  AND  PRICES 

Chapter  XXV. — Preparing  for  Marketing:  The  Work  of 

the  Gin  .  .  .  .  .  .215 

Chapter  XXVL— Marketing:  The  Trip  to  the  Spindle  .  224 
Chapter  XXVII. — The  Unceasing  Contest  Between  Bulls 

and  Bears       ......    234 

Chapter  XXVIIL— Statistics:   How   the  World   Watches 

While  the  Plant  Grows  •  .  .  .249 

Chapter  XXIX. — Prices :  The  Puzzling  Problem  of  Cotton 

Values  ......   260 


CONTENTS— Cow/mwe^/  ix 

PAQB 

SECTION   IV.— MANUFACTURES     AND     BY- 
PRODUCTS 

Chapter  XXX. — Cottonseed:    Once   an    Outcast;  Now  a 

Prince  .  .  .  .  .  .   275 

Chapter  XXXI.— Cotton  Oil:  The  King  Feeds  as  Well  as 

Clothes  His  Subjects  .  .  .  .282 

Chapter  XXXII. — Meal    and    Hulls:    King   Cotton  Also 

Feeds  Our  Flocks  and  Herds  .  .  .   290 

Chapter  XXXIII. —The  Rise  of  Cotton  Manufacturing  .  301 
Chapter  XXXIV. — The  Cotton  Factory  in  the  Southern 

States  .  .  .  .  .  .311 

Chapter  XXXV. — The   Making  of  Cotton  Goods  .319 

Chapter  XXXVI. — Conclusion — The     Epic     of     Cotton 

That  is  Yet  to  be  Written  •  .  .330 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Picking  Scene Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

A  Monarch  that  Brooks  no  Rivals        .      .  .  .  .16 

Part  of  Our  $410,000,000  m  Cotton  Export  Values   ...       17 

Production  of  Cotton  1850  to  1900 22 

Cotton  Statistics 23 

Production  of  Cotton  1900  (by  States)         ....       34 
Breaking  Land  for  Egyptian  Cotton     .....       35 

How  The  Negro  Tenants  Live 38 

Negro  Pickers  at  Work  and  at  Home 39 

Cotton  Picking  in  the  Lowlands     ......       50 

"Light-hearted,  good-natured  and  aisily  lynched."  (Mr.  Dooley)     51 
Cotton  Bolls,  Fibres  Other  than  Cotton     ....       56 

The  Mechanical  Cotton  Picker 57 

Soft  and  Compressed  Bales :  Gathering  Samples  .         .       64 

More  Cotton  Statistics        .......       65 

Southern  Views  ........       72 

More  Scenes  from  Dixie 73 

The  Cotton  Association  is  a  Factor  to  be  Reckoned  with     .  .       80 

Holding  for  Better  Prices     .  .  .  .  .81, 

Varieties  of  Cotton 90 

Varieties  of  Cotton     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .91 

Varieties  of  Cotton  94 

Economical  and  Expensive  Cotton-making     ....       95 
Improvement   of   Cotton     .......     100 

Where  Cotton  Grows  Best 101 

Getting  Fertilizer  from  the  Air 116 

Cultivatmg  the  Crop 117 

The  Rescue  of  Old  Lands     .  .  .  .  .  .  .122 

Old-fashioned  Methods  Not  Yet  Forgotten     .  .  .  .123 

Diagram  Showing  Relative  Quantities  of  Nitrogen,  Potash  and 
Phosphoric  Acid  Required  for  the  Production  of  an  Average 
Yield  (per  Acre)  of  Corn,  WTieat,  etc.;  Crimson  Clover;  Cotton- 
Cultivation  in  its  Final  Stage 126 


ILLUSTRATIONS— Co?i«mwei 


?" 


Two  Ways  of  Fertilizing     .... 

Soils  and  Their  Improvement     . 
Comparative  Quantities  of  Plant  Food  in  Different  Fertilizing 
Ingredients      ...... 

Modern  Cotton  Making     .... 

"How  much  does  it  weigh?"     . 

Young  Plants  Just  After  Germination     . 

As  Destructive  as  an  Invading  Army — The  Boll  Weevil 

Starting  the  Crop        ..... 

The  Alpha  and  Omega  of  Cotton  Making     . 
The  Boll  Weevil's  Conquest  of  Texas     . 
Before  the  Cotton  Factory  Came    . 

Transformations    of    Cotton    BoUworm    (Heliothis  armiger 
Huhn)  Double  page     ..... 

White  for  the  Harvest 

Making  Cotton  Without  Hand  Chopping     . 
Ginning  and  Baling  the  Cotton     . 

Hope  and  Realization  .... 

Waiting  Turns  at  the  Gin     .... 

A  Look  on  the  Inside    ..... 

Cotton  after  Baling     ..... 

*'  How  Much  Do  I  Git  at  Fifty  Saints  a  Hund'ed 

Stages  of  Cotton  Picking     .... 

Nerve  Centres  of  Cotton  Finance  . 

Interior  of  New  York  Cotton  Exchange. 

Condition  of  the  Cotton  Crop     . 

The  Ebb  and  Flow  of  Cotton  Prices     . 

In  and  About  a  Cotton  Factory     . 

Cottonseed,  the  Finest  Cattle  Food 

Cotton  Seed  Huller     ..... 

Interior  View  of  Cotton  Mill     .      . 

Cotton  Manufacturing  in  the  South     . 

Manufacturing:  Fancy  Dobby  Loom 

Cotton    Fabrics 


FACING  PAGE 

127 
134 


135 
146 
147 
164 
165 
180 
181 
188 
189 

188-189 

.  200 

.  201 

.  208 

.  209 

.  228 

.  229 

.  230 

.  231 

.  242 

.  243 

.  244 

.  245 

.  260 

.  261 

.  276 

.  277 

.  312 

.  313 

.  320 

.  321 


INTRODUCTION: 
HAIL,    THE   KING! 


INTRODUCTION:  HAIL,  THE  KING! 

"Cotton — what  a  royal  plant  it  is!"  Henry- 
Grady  once  exclaimed:  "The  world  waits  in  at- 
tendance on  its  growth;  the  shower  that  falls  whis- 
pering on  its  leaves  is  heard  around  the  earth;  the 
sun  that  shines  on  it  is  tempered  by  the  prayers  of 
all  the  people;  the  frost  that  chills  it  and  the  dew 
that  descends  from  the  stars  are  noted,  and  the  tres- 
pass of  a  little  worm  upon  its  green  leaf  is  more  to 
England  than  the  advance  of  the  Russian  army  on 
her  Asian  outposts.  It  is  gold  from  the  instant  it 
puts  forth  its  tiny  shoot.  Its  fibre  is  current  in 
every  bank  and  when,  loosing  its  fleeces  to  the  sun, 
it  floats  a  simny  banner  that  glorifies  the  fields  of 
the  humble  farmer,  that  man  is  marshaled  under  a 
flag  that  will  compel  the  allegiance  of  the  world  and 
wring  a  subsidy  from  every  nation  on  earth." 

THE    ONE    CROP    FOR   WHICH    NATURE    HAS    NO 
SUBSTITUTE 

And  in  this  flight  of  eloquence  the  Georgia  ora- 
tor did  not  overestimate  the  importance  of  the 
South's  great  staple  crop.  We  do  not  exaggerate 
when  we  claim  that  no  other  plant  in  all  the  vege- 
table kingdom  is  of  so  much  importance  to  the  hu- 
man race.  Destroy  any  fruit  plant  in  the  world, 
and  men  would  grow  other  fruits.     Let  any  lumber 


D.  H.  HILL  LIBRARY 

North  Carolina  State  College 


4  COTTON 

tree  become  extinct  to-morrow,  and  other  trees 
will  take  its  place  and  our  building  go  on  as  before. 
Even  if  corn  or  wheat  or  rice  should  perish  from 
the  earth,  we  could  grow  enough  of  the  other  crop, 
supplemented  by  rice,  oats,  barley,  rye,  peas, 
beans,  etc.,  to  feed  both  man  and  beast  with  com- 
fort. But  there  is  no  substitute  for  cotton  that  can 
be  cultivated  on  a  large  scale;  no  substitute,  animal 
or  vegetable  product,  with  which  civilization's  pres- 
ent demand  for  clothing  could  be  supplied. 

Nor  is  there  any  plant  with  a  history  more  mar- 
velous or  more  romantic — more  suggestive  of  the 
legend  and  mythology  of  its  Oriental  home  where 
it  first  began  to  serve  mankind.  If  Frank  Norris 
had  lived  in  the  South  instead  of  California,  what 
an  Epic  of  the  Cotton  he  might  have  given  us — 
what  a  story  of  Cotton,  responding  only  to  the 
warmth  of  a  Southern  sun,  and  yielding  a  richer 
fleece  than  ever  Jason  dreamed  of;  Cotton,  whose 
influence  did  most  to  bring  us  an  alien  race  from 
Africa,  and  then  did  most  to  perpetuate  in  Ameri- 
ca the  institution  of  human  slavery;  Cotton,  on 
which  a  "Dixie  Land,  the  Land  of  Cotton,"  once 
built  its  hopes  while  it  waged  one  of  the  greatest 
wars  of  modern  times;  Cotton,  which  helped  the 
vanquished  people  to  their  feet  again,  and  now 
bids  fair  to  restore  them  to  a  proud  position  in 
wealth  and  industry! 

THE   BASIS   OF   THE    WORLD's   DOMINANT    INDUSTRY 

It  is  probably  not  too  much  to  say  that  cotton  is 
now  the  basis  of  the  dominant  industry  of  the 
globe.  In  their  primary  forms  the  iron  and  steel 
products  of  the  world  represent  a  value  of  only 


COTTON  5 

$1,700,000,000  yearly,  while  the  estimated  value 
of  the  world's  annual  output  of  cotton  goods  is 
$2,000,000,000.  On  cotton  most  of  the  human  race 
depends  for  clothing — three  times  as  much  cotton 
as  wool  being  produced,  and  the  world's 
wool  production  having  decreased  from  2,750,000 
bales  in  1895  to  1,750,000  in  1905,  while  in  the 
same  period  the  world's  cotton  supply  has  grown 
from  10,304,000  bales  to  17,782,000  bales.  And 
of  this  enormous  cotton  supply  three-fourths  is 
grown  in  the  Southern  section  of  the  United 
States.  Twice  the  world's  total  gold  output  last 
year  would  have  been  required  to  pay  Southern 
farmers  for  lint  and  seed;  three-fourths  of  the 
capital  stock  of  all  the  National  Banks  in  the 
country  would  have  been  inadequate. 

COTTON     EXPORTS     EXCEED     IN     VALUE     ALL     OTHEE 
AMERICAN  AGRICULTURAL  EXPORTS 

Among  our  American  export  crops  cotton  is  a 
monarch  that  brooks  no  rivals.  According  to  a 
signed  statement  furnished  the  writer  by  Mr.  O. 
P.  Austin,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  De- 
partment of  Commerce  and  Labor,  January  23, 
1906,  the  total  value  of  our  exports  of  cottonseed 
and  cottonseed  products  for  the  year  ending  June 
30,  1905  (raw  cotton  alone  $381,000,000),  was 
$410,657,752  as  against  $410,205,653  for  "all 
other  agricultural  exports."  In  other  words,  take 
all  other  animal  and  vegetable  products  exported 
any  year — ^wheat,  corn,  barley,  oats,  rye,  flour, 
meal,  oatmeal,  fruits,  vegetables,  liquors,  tobacco, 
wine,  cattle,  hogs,  horses,  sheep,  beef,  pork,  mut- 
ton, butter,  cheese,  canned  goods,  lard,  oils,  wool, 


6  COTTOX 

hides,  skins,  etc.,  etc., — the  entire  contribution,  ex- 
cept cotton,  furnished  the  outside  world  by  every 
American  farm,  ranch,  dairy,  fruit  farm  and  gar- 
den, from  Maine  to  California,  from  Michigan  to 
Texas,  from  Alaska  to  Hawaii,  including  the 
South's  own  not  unimportant  share — take  all  this, 
and  with  the  proceeds  of  one  year's  cotton  and  cot- 
tonseed exports,  the  Southern  cotton-grower  can 
buy  the  whole  colossal  aggregation,  still  have  a 
surplus  of  several  hundred  thousand  left  as  pin 
money,  and  be  ready  to  start  business  again  with 
the  more  than  $200,000,000  he  gets  annually  for 
supplying  the  25,000,000  spindles  of  our  own 
country. 

"If  Europe  during  the  past  five  years,"  says 
Mr.  R.  H.  Edmonds,  "had  gathered  together  every 
dollar's  worth  of  gold  produced  in  all  the  mines  of 
the  earth  and  shipped  it  to  the  South,  it  would  still 
have  fallen  $206,000,000  short  of  paying  for  that 
part  of  the  cotton  crop  the  South  has  sent  beyond 
the  seas." 

COTTON  BOTH  CLOTHES  AND  FEEDS  MANKIND 

In  many  ways  cotton  stands  out  unique  among 
all  the  plants  that  men  grow.  Not  only  is  it  the 
only  crop  which  has  greatly  changed  the  destinies 
of  nations  and  continents  (but  for  cotton,  slav- 
ery would  not  have  so  flourished  in  the  South  as  to 
plunge  America  into  a  great  civil  war),  but  it  is 
unique  in  that  it  contributes  to  a  greater  variety  of 
human  needs  than  any  other  plant  that  Providence 
has  placed  upon  the  earth.  From  pole  to  pole,  in 
every  zone  and  clime;  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave, 
in  every  stage  of  life;   from  prince  to  pauper. 


COTTON"  7 

among  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  it  is  of 
course  the  chief  material  used  for  clothing,  but 
every  year  more  and  more  of  its  products  are 
brought  to  our  tables,  and  it  is  called  upon  to  feed 
a  steadily  increasing  number  of  our  flocks  and 
herds. 

You  get  up  in  the  morning  from  a  bed  clothed 
in  cotton;  you  step  out  on  a  cotton  rug;  you  let  in 
the  light  by  raising  a  cotton  window-shade;  you 
wash  with  soap  made  partly  from  cottonseed  oil 
products;  you  dry  your  face  on  a  cotton  towel;  you 
array  yourself  chiefly  in  cotton  clothing;  the  "silk" 
in  which  your  wife  dresses  is  probably  mercerized 
cotton ;  at  the  breakfast  table  you  do  not  get  away 
from  King  Cotton;  cottolene  has  probably  taken 
the  place  of  lard  in  the  biscuit  you  eat;  the  beef  and 
the  mutton  were  probably  fattened  on  cottonseed 
meal  and  hulls;  your  "imported  olive  oil"  is  more 
likely  from  a  Texas  cotton  farm  than  from  an  Ital- 
ian villa;  your  "butter"  is  probably  a  product  of 
Southern  cottonseed ;  the  coal  that  burns  in  the  fire 
may  have  been  mined  by  the  light  of  a  cotton-oil 
lamp;  the  sheep  from  which  your  woolen  clothing 
came  were  probably  fed  on  cottonseed;  the  tonic 
you  take  may  contain  an  extract  of  cotton 
root-bark;  the  tobacco  you  smoke  not  unlikely 
grew  under  a  cotton  cover  and  is  put  up  in  a  cotton 
bag;  your  morning  daily  may  be  printed  on  cot- 
ton waste  paper — and  even  in  that  Oriental  skir- 
mish it  tells  about  the  contending  forces  were 
clothed  in  khaki  duck,  slept  under  cotton  tents,  cot- 
ton was  an  essential  in  the  high  explosives  which 
were  used,  and  when  at  last  war  had  done  its  worst, 
surgery  itself  called  cotton  into  requisition  to  aid 
the  injured  and  dying. 


8  COTTON 

THE  HANDMAIDEN  OF  CIVn.lZATK)N 

Cotton,  furthermore,  is  also  unique  in  that  more 
largely  than  any  other  plant  it  contributes  to  the 
higher  wants  of  man  and  more  justly  than  any  other 
plant  may  be  termed  the  Handmaiden  of  Ci\41iza- 
tion.  For  while  the  lowest  classes  of  men  ( and  ani- 
mals) demand  food,  the  demand  for  clothing  and 
ornament  is  a  mark  of  civilization.  Even  as  far 
back  as  Eden  itself,  the  desire  for  clothing  was  the 
first  evidence  of  knowledge  and  conscience  given  by 
the  first  man  and  woman  placed  on  earth.  And  with 
all  races  of  mankind  since,  the  progress  of  enhghten- 
ment  has  been  largely  registered  by  the  advances  in 
clothing.  "Society  is  founded  upon  Cloth,"  was  the 
doctrine  of  Carlyle's  Teuf elsdrockh ;  and  he  was 
not  far  wrong  in  declaring  that  "JMan's  earthly  in- 
terests are  all  hooked  and  buttoned  together,  and 
held  up,  by  Clothes.  .  .  .  Society  sails  through 
the  Infinitude  on  Cloth,  as  on  a  Faust's  Mantle,  or 
rather  like  the  Sheet  of  clean  and  unclean  beasts  in 
the  Apostle's  Dream;  and  without  such  Sheet  or 
Mantle,  would  sink  to  endless  depths  or  mount  to 
inane  hmboes,  and  in  either  case  be  no  more." 

Of  so  much  importance,  then,  is  the  crop  we  are 
to  consider  in  this  volume;  the  only  one  of  the 
great  staples  for  which  no  satisfactory  substitute 
can  be  found ;  the  only  plant  in  the  w^orld  that  in  a 
large  measure  both  feeds  and  clothes  mankind;  the 
one  plant  most  worthy  of  being  reckoned  the  aid 
and  ally  of  Civilization. 

Small  wonder  that  more  than  two  generations  of 
men  have  called  it  King  Cotton,  and  that  its  realm 
is  as  wide  as  the  earth!  Or  as  certain  of  our  own 
bards  has  said : 


COTTON 

"Where  sleeps  the  poet  who  shall  fitly  sing 
The  source  wherefrom  doth  spring 
That  mighty  commerce  which,  confined 
To  the  mean  channels  of  no  selfish  mart. 
Goes  out  to  every  shore 

Of  this  broad  earth,  and  throngs  the  sea  with  ships 
That  bear  no  thunders;  hushes  hungry  lips 
In  alien  lands; 

Joins  with  a  delicate  web  remotest  strands; 
And  gladdening  rich  and  poor. 
Doth  gild  Parisian  domes. 
Or  feed  the  cottage  smoke  of  English  homes, 
And  only  bounds  its  blessings  by  mankind  1" 


SECTION  I. 

KING  COTTON:  HIS  REALM 
AND  HIS  SUBJECTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  COTTON!  FROM  ANCIENT  INDIA  TO 
OUR  OWN  TIME 

We  have  no  desire  whatever  to  inflict  upon  the 
long-sufFering  reader  any  exhaustive  review  of  the 
uninteresting  remarks  on  cotton  which  pedantic 
scholars  have  picked  up  here  and  there  in  ancient 
hterature.  In  fact,  the  only  unpleasant  task  con- 
nected with  the  writing  of  this  volume  has  been  the 
enforced  reading  of  several  chapters  of  such  mat- 
ter. Be  patient  then,  gentle  reader;  we  shall  not 
prolong  the  agony. 

To  iind  the  first  use  of  cotton  by  our  race,  we 
shall  have  to  take  the  road  to  Mandalay  and  go 
back  to  a  time  five  centuries  before  the  birth  of 
Christ — back  to  the  dim  past  in  the  land  of  Buddha 
and  Brahmai — and  Kim;  back  to  the  scene  of  the 
great  Mahabharata,  and  the  other  legendary 
glories  of  the  dreamy  Orient.  Before  the  world 
had  known  the  sway  of  a  Caesar,  long  even  before 
the  age  of  Pericles,  the  old  Hindoo  law  declared 
that  "the  sacrificial  thread  of  the  Brahman  must  be 
made  of  cotton,"  and  as  punishment  for  theft  of 
cotton  thread  directed  a  fine  three  times  the  value  of 
the  article  stolen. 

(IS) 


14  COTTOX 

CHINESE  AND  INDIAN  CULTURE  OF  COTTON 

Herodotus  tells  us  that  "the  thorax  or  cuirass 
sent  by  Amasis,  King  of  Egypt,  to  Sparta"  in  550 
B.  C,  was  "adorned  with  gold  and  the  fleeces  from 
trees" — and  he  goes  on  to  explain  that  in  India  are 
trees  "the  fruit  of  which  is  a  wool  exceeding  in 
beauty  and  goodness  that  of  a  sheep."  A  crude  sys- 
tem of  hand-spinning,  weaving  and  dyeing  was 
early  worked  out  by  the  Hindoos  more  than  two 
thousand  years  ago — and  singularly  enough,  in  all 
of  the  centuries  that  followed  this,  intelligent  peo- 
ple added  practically  no  improvement  to  the  cotton 
machinery  the  elders  then  planned.  What  Herod- 
otus reported  as  to  equipment  was  practically  the 
same  as  that  which  Marco  Polo  found,  and  there 
was  no  change  from  the  time  of  ]Marco  Polo  to  that 
of  Arkwright. 

Across  the  Himalayan  "Palace  of  the  Snow," 
from  the  Hindoos  is  China;  and  it  was  not  a  great 
while  after  India  began  to  use  cotton  before  the 
Chinese  put  it  into  their  gardens  and  sang  of  it  in 
their  poems — evidently  treating  it,  however,  as  a 
rare  and  beautiful,  rather  than  as  a  useful,  plant ;  so 
that  even  in  the  sixth  century  after  Christ  it  was  a 
matter  of  marvel  and  record  with  the  scribes  of  that 
day  that  the  Emperor  Outi  had  a  rare  robe  made  of 
cotton ;  and  it  was  five  hundred  years  later — in  the 
days  of  Kubla  Khan — before  the  manufacture  of 
cotton  among  the  Celestials  became  at  all  extensive. 
Since  that  time,  however,  cotton  has  been  largely 
used  for  clothing  the  "heathen  Chinee,"  and  he  has 
not  only  used  his  own  product  for  this  purpose,  but 
has  imported  liberally  from  India  and  the  Burmese 
provinces. 


COTTON  15 

USE  IN  EGYPT  AND  INTRODUCTION  INTO  EUEOPE  BY 
THE  MOORS 

As  to  the  culture  and  use  of  cotton  by  the  ancient 
Egyptians,  there  are  differences  of  opinion  among 
the  doctors ;  but  the  weight  of  evidence  indicates  its 
use  to  a  hmited  extent. 

Into  Europe  the  cotton  plant  was  brought  a  thou- 
sand years  ago,  the  Moors  having  introduced  its  cul- 
ture in  Spain  "when  the  cahphate  of  Cordova  was 
at  the  height  of  its  power  and  magnificence."  But 
the  Spanish  Christians  looked  with  such  disfavor  on 
everything  having  to  do  with  the  Moors,  or  gave 
so  little  attention  to  it,  that  it  was  long  before  cot- 
ton found  favor  in  the  ej^es  of  the  Pope's  subjects. 
In  the  fourteenth  century  it  was  at  last  given  a 
chance  to  rejoice  beneath  the  sunny  Italian  skies, 
and  from  there  its  culture  spread  to  France  and 
Greece. 

FOUND  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD 

In  the  New  World  cotton  has  been  grown  and 
used  from  the  dateless  past — certainly  in  clothing 
Peruvian  mummies  which  had  slept  the  sleep  of 
death  for  centuries  even  before  Pizarro  came  to 
disturb  the  dreams  of  the  Incas;  and  among  the 
treasures  which  Cortez  wrested  from  the  Mexican 
Montezuma  and  sent  to  Charles  V.  were  "exquisite 
cotton  fabrics  dyed  in  various  colors."  In  the  West 
Indies  especially  cotton  has  always  flourished. 

"In  a  word,"  says  Mr.  R.  B.  Handy,  "everywhere 
between  the  parallels  of  40°  north  latitude  and  40° 
south  latitude,  with  the  exception  of  our 
present  American  'Cotton  Belt,'  cotton,  either  in 


16  COTTON 

its  wild  or  cultivated  state,  was  known  and  used  at 
the  date  of  the  settlement  of  America." 

EARLY  INDIAN   WEAVING 

So  much  for  the  history  of  cotton  production. 
As  for  its  manufacture,  we  have  already  seen  that 
the  crude  Indian  plan  of  spinning  and  weaving 
was  invented  before  the  Christian  Era;  and  tliis 
system  followed  the  culture  of  cotton  as  it  spread 
through  Europe  and  Asia.  So  crude  is  the  Indian 
equipment — a  distaff  for  spinning  and  a  loom  com- 
posed of  "a  few  sticks  or  reeds  which  the  Indian 
carries  about  with  him" — that  the  total  value  is 
only  a  few  shillings.  It  is  thought  likely  that  the 
Flemings  learned  the  art  of  using  cotton  from  the 
Turkish  crusaders,  and  that  cotton  manufacture 
was  introduced  into  England  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury by  artisans  who  fled  from  Flanders.  And  be- 
fore leaving  the  subject  of  Indian  weaving,  it  ought 
to  be  said  that  so  wonderful  is  the  skill  of  tlie  Hin- 
doo that  our  finest  machinery  does  not  make  goods 
equal  to  that  which  he  produced  with  his  primitive 
equipment.  So  fine  and  gossamer-like  were  the 
muslins  of  Dacca  that  they  were  called  "webs  of 
woven  wind."  Tavernier,  writing  in  1660,  says  of 
some  Indian  fabric,  that  "when  a  man  puts  it  on, 
his  skin  appears  as  plainly  through  it  as  if  he  was 
quite  naked ;  but  the  merchants  are  not  permitted  to 
transport  it,  for  the  Governor  is  obliged  to  send  it 
all  to  the  Great  Mogul's  seraglio,  who  use  it  to  make 
the  sultanesses'  and  the  noblemen's  wives'  shifts  and 
garments  for  the  hot  weather,  and  the  King  and 
the  lords  take  great  pleasure  in  beholding  them  in 
these  shifts." 


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A  MONARCH  THAT  BROOKS  NO  RIVALS. 

Our  cotton  exports  exceed  in  value  all  other  exports  combined— the  total  value 
of  all  other  products  from  every  American  farm,  ranch,  dairy,  fruit  farm,  stock  farm, 
and  garden.  North,  South,  East  and  West. 


i'AUi  Ub  OL  ii  .ti41(),0i)().(tU()  IN  COTTON  EXPORT  VALUES 
An  ocean  steamer  takina:  on  three  bales  of  compressed  cotton  for  export  to 
English  mills. 


COTTON  17 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  ENGLAND^S  GREATEST  INDUSTRY 

Our  English  ancestors,  late  in  taking  up  the  man- 
ufacture of  cotton,  even  after  beginning  it  allowed 
the  industry  to  grow  slowly.  Spinning  was  done  on 
the  distaff,  or  at  best  on  the  one-thread  spinning- 
wheel;  and  for  weaving  the  hand-loom  had  known 
but  little  improvement  since  the  days  of  the  Caes- 
ars. Nor  was  there  any  kind  of  co-operation, 
any  division  of  labor;  each  individual  family  at- 
tempted to  carry  on  the  entire  process  of  spinning 
and  weaving  the  cloth. 

But  about  1760  we  see  the  beginnings  of  a  revolu- 
tion. The  Manchester  merchants  then  began  to 
furnish  cotton  and  linen  yarn  to  weavers,  paying 
a  fixed  price  for  spinning  and  weaving  the  product 
— and  so  the  industry,  hitherto  primitive  and  cha- 
otic, began  for  the  first  time  to  take  shape  as  a  defin- 
ite, well-planned  organization. 

Very  soon  after  this  the  export  of  English  goods 
began  on  a  small  scale,  and  with  surprisingly  satis- 
factory results  from  the  very  beginning.  Prices 
were  high,  and  the  call  for  larger  supplies  insistent. 
But  as  the  demand  grew,  the  English  spinner  grew 
in  desperation.  Here  was  a  world  outside  demand- 
ing that  England  clothe  it ;  and  yet,  for  two  seem- 
ingly inexorable  reasons,  England  could  not. 

In  the  first  place,  while  she  could  get  yarn  enough 
for  the  warp  of  the  goods,  she  could  not  get  enough 
cotton  for  the  weft. 

And  even  if  she  could  get  cotton  enough,  she 
could  not  find  labor  enough  to  spin  it.  Doing  her 
best  with  her  one-thread  wheel,  she  was  spinning 
only  as  much  as  50,000  of  our  modern  spindles  now 
turn  out. 


18  COTTON 

But  these  problems  hardly  began  to  be  urgent  be- 
fore they  were  solved.  Hargreaves,  Arkwright, 
Watt,  Cartwright  and  others  with  their  now  fam- 
ous inventions,  showed  how  to  make  one  man's 
labor  yield  more  than  that  of  ten  men  had  done 
before — and  succeeded,  even  if  the  mad  mob  did 
scour  the  country  in  search  of  the  new  machines 
they  believed  would  take  the  bread  from  the  mouths 
of  the  laborers. 

AMERICA  BEGINS  TO  SUPPLY  ENGLAND'S  WANTS 

And  just  as  the  English  spinners  learned  how 
to  spin  and  weave  cotton  fast  enough,  just  then 
America  answered  her  question  as  to  where  she 
could  get  the  raw  material. 

Cotton,  on  a  small  scale,  was  grown  in  America 
from  the  time  of  the  earliest  settlements.  In  1621 
the  first  planting  was  made  in  Virginia.  The  first 
permanent  settlers  in  North  Carolina  in  1664  grew 
cotton  as  one  of  their  principal  crops,  and  forty 
years  later  cotton  furnished  one-fifth  of  the  cloth- 
ing used  by  the  people  of  the  State.  South  Carolina 
began  cotton  culture  in  1766,  and  Georgia  early  in 
the  eighteenth  century. 

"Barrels  of  cotton"  and  "bags  of  cotton"  soon 
began  to  be  mentioned  as  articles  of  export  to  Eng- 
land, and  in  1751  it  appears  that  one  Henry  Han- 
sen shipped  "in  good  order  and  well  conditioned, 
in  and  upon  the  good  scow  called  the  Mary,  where- 
of is  master  under  God,  for  this  present  voyage, 
Barnaby  Badgars,  and  now  riding  in  the  harbour 
of  New  York,  and  by  God's  grace  bound  for  Lon- 
don— to  say,  eighteen  bales  of  cotton  wool,  being 
marked  and  nuumbered,"  etc.      In  1786  Liverpool 


COTTON  19 

imported  800  pounds  of  American  cotton,  in  1787, 
16,350  pounds,  in  1788,  58,500  pounds,  and  in 
1792,  138,328  pounds. 

By  this  time  it  was  America  rather  than  England 
which  was  wrestHng  with  a  problem — and  our  prob- 
lem was  how  to  separate  the  seed  from  the  lint  in 
quantities  sufficient  to  supply  the  British  demand. 
EH  Whitney  solved  it — just  how  and  when  we  shall 
consider  at  greater  length  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

It  is  enough  here  to  say  that  the  year  Whitney 
invented  the  cotton  gin  the  South  grew  the  equiva- 
lent of  10,000  400-pound  bales;  a  hundred  years 
later  we  grew  10,000,000  400-pound  bales. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ACREAGE  AND  PRODUCTION; 

SUPPLY  IS  GROWN 

Of  the  17,782,440  bales  making  up  the  1904-5 
cotton  crop  of  the  world,  it  is  estimated  that  the 
United  States  grew  13,420,440  bales,  the  East  In- 
dies 2,960,000,  Egypt  1,187,000,  Brazil,  etc.,  215,- 
000. 

In  India,  the  oldest  of  cotton-producing  coun- 
tries, the  total  yield  of  late  years  has  been  de- 
creasing. In  1893-94  India  grew  2,993,000  bales 
(she  had  grown  more  than  3,000,000  three  years 
before)  and  in  1903-4  she  produced  only  2,634,400 
bales.  The  soil  of  India  is  well  adapted  to  cotton 
growing,  but  the  climate  is  largely  unfavorably — 
too  wet  in  some  places,  too  dry  in  others — and  the 
average  yield  per  acre  is  hardly  more  than  half 
the  average  American  yield. 

EGYPTIAN  AND  INDIAN  PRODUCTION 

The  abnormal  demand  for  cotton  during  the  Civil 
War  stimulated  Indian  production,  but  "when  the 
final  result  of  the  contest  between  America  and 
India  became  apparent,  America  had  gained  com- 
mand of  the  market,  and  India  was  considered  only 
as  a  supplementary  source  of  supply,  resorted  to 
mainly  in  the  event  of  a  short  crop  in  the  West." 

(20) 


COTTON  21 

But  if  India's  interest  in  cotton  growing  seems  to 
be  waning,  Egypt  is  even  more  surely  awakening 
to  her  advantages  as  a  cotton-producing  country. 
In  1894-95  the  land  of  the  Pharaohs  produced  only 
650,000  bales;  in  1904-5  1,187,000  bales.  Much 
of  this  increase  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  great 
irrigation  improvements  of  which  the  world  has 
heard  so  much;  but  even  without  these  the  same 
steady  growth  which  has  marked  the  course  of 
Egyptian  cotton  farming  since  its  beginning 
would  doubtless  have  been  maintained.  Egypt  is 
the  only  country  whose  cotton  trade  did  not  decline 
when  the  South  after  Lee's  surrender  resumed  her 
old  place  as  the  home  of  the  fleecy  staple.  Maho 
Bey,  aided  by  a  Frenchman  named  Jumel,  turned 
the  attention  of  Egypt  to  cotton  farming  in  1820 
— whence  the  name  "Maho"  and  "Jumel"  for 
Egyptian  cotton^and  she  has  taken  no  backward 
step  in  the  80  years  since  she  began  by  sending 
5,323  bales  to  Liverpool. 

THREE-FOURTHS     OF    WORLD's     SUPPLY      GROWN     IN 
THE  SOUTH 

After  all,  however,  the  world  gives  little  thought 
to  India  or  Egypt  or  Brazil  or  Russia,  when  it 
comes  to  reckon  on  the  next  year's  cotton  supply. 
For  more  than  three-fourths  of  this  supply  it  must 
look  to  twelve  American  States  and  Territories,  in 
ten  of  which  it  is  the  chief  farm  product.  We  have 
already  seen  that  half  our  agricultural  export  val- 
ues is  in  cotton.  On  more  than  1,000,000  American 
farms  cotton  is  the  principal  source  of  income. 
Every  foot  of  the  surface  of  seven  of  our  smaller 
States — land  and  water,  hiU  and  dale,  field  and 


22  COTTON 

forest,  marsh  and  barren — might  be  planted  to  cot- 
ton without  equalling  the  area  which  the  South  an- 
nually plants  to  this  favorite  farm  staple.  And  all 
this  is  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  cotton,  more 
largely  than  any  other  American  crop,  is  dependent 
upon  hand  labor.  The  increased  cost  by  reason  of 
this  fact,  however,  naturally  leads  to  correspond- 
ingly greater  profits,  so  that  in  1899  24,000,000 
acres  planted  to  cotton  (and  at  prices  very  much 
lower  than  now  obtain)  produced  $323,000,000 
in  values,  while  the  wheat  crop  from  more  than 
twice  this  area  was  worth  only  $369,000,000,  and 
the  value  of  the  corn  crop  from  about  four  times 
the  cotton  acreage  was  only  $828,000,000. 


c  s 


C  1 


r 


mil 


mti 


Hill 


ffl    s  -^  ^  — 


<Z'x>HHo::<ofe 


k'ORLD  S    PRODUCTION    OF   COTTON. 


Countries. 

1904-05. 
Bales. 

1903-04. 
Bales. 

1902-03. 
Bales. 

1901-02. 
Bales. 

13,420,440 

2,960,000 

1,187.000 

215,000 

9,841,671 

2,634,400 

1,275;754 

307,516 

10,511,020 

2,737,577 

1,148,700 

329,890 

10,380,380 

East  Indies*.            .       ..            

2,475,230 

Egypt             

1,292,443 

265,896 

Total 

17,782,440 
15,506,225 

14,059,341 
14.010,428 

14,746,687 
14,436,589 

14,413.949 

14.414.908 

2,776,185 

3,011,079 
5,287,264 

48,918 

2,962,166 
3,011,079 

290,098 

2,672,068 
2,962,166 

a  959 

Visible  and  invisible  stock  : 

September  1  beginning  year 

September  1  ending  year 

2,673,027 
2,672,068 

*  Includes  India's  exports  to  Europe,  America  and  Japan,  and  mill  consumption  in 
India  increased  or  decreased  by  excess  or  loss  of  stock  at  Bombay. 

+  Receipts  into  Europe  from  Brazil,  Smyrna,  Peru,  West  Indies,  etc.,  and  Japan 
and  China  cotton  used  in  Japanese  mills. 

a  Deficiency  in  the  year's  new  supply. 

The  above  statement  indicates  in  compact  form  the  year's  supply  of 
cotton  (not  including  Russia)  in  each  of  the  four  years,  the  amount  con- 
sumed, and  also  the  extent  to  which  visible  and  invisible  stocks  were 
increased  or  diminished. 


COMMERCIAL  CROP  BY 

STATES. 

1904-05 
Bales 

1903-04 
Bales 

1902-03 
Bales 

1901-02 
Bales 

Alabama 

Arkansas 

Florida 

1,470,000 

905,000 

89,000 

1,975,000 

1,100,000 

1,777,000 

775,000 

1,200,000 

691,000 

3,584,000 

1,000,000 

705,000 

55,000 

1,325,000 
824,000 

1,387,000 
563,000 
825,000 
451,000 

2,876,000 

1,050,000 

1,000,000 
55,000 

1,470,000 
884,000 

1,404,000 
575,000 
950,000 
509,000 

2,831,000 

1,200,000 

820,000 

54,000 

1,525,000 

Louisiana 

Mississippi 

N.  Carolina,  etc. . 
South   Carolina.. 
Tennessee,  etc. . . 
Tex.  &  Indian  Ter 

880,000 
1,375,000 
550,000 
925,000 
359,000 
2,993,000 

Total  crop,  bales 

13,566,000 

10,011,000 

10,728,000. 

10,681,000 

conoN  siATisrics. 

(Courte.^y   nf   Lath.^m,   .\lexaniler   it   C».  ) 


COTTON 


23 


STATISTICS    WHICH     SHOW    THE    DEVELOPMENT    OF 
COTTON  GROWING 

I  do  not  know  that  in  any  way  we  can  get  the 
subject  more  clearly  before  the  reader  than  to  give 
herewith  the  statistics  of  production  by  years  for 
seventy  years  past,  and  the  acreage  and  average 
yield  by  years  since  1888: 

ACREAGE  AND  YIELD  SINCE   1888 


Net 

Net 

Balea 

Season 

Acres  Planted 

Crop  Pounds  Net 

Pounds 
per 

Bales  in  Crop 

Weight 
laTe 

Per 
Acre 

Acre 

1888-89 

19,362,073 

3,260,996,300 

168 

6,938,290 

470 

0  36 

1889-90 

20,171,896 

3,472,861,786 

172 

7,311,322 

471 

0  36 

1890-91 

20,809,053 

4,092,678,381 

196 

8,652,597 

473 

0  41 

1891-92 

20,714,937 

4,273,734,267 

206 

9,035,379 

473 

0  43 

1892-93 

18,067,924 

3,182,673,375 

176 

6,700,365 

475 

0  37 

1893-94 

19,684,000 

3,578,613,258 

182 

7,549,817 

474 

0  88 

1894-95 

21,454,000 

4,792,205,484 

223 

9,901,251 

484 

0  46 

1895-96 

18,882,000 

3,414,054,042 

181 

7,157,346 

477 

0  38 

1896-97 

22,341,000 

4,177,548,828 

187 

8,757,964 

477 

0  39 

1897-98 

24,071,000 

5,398,397,108 

224 

11,199,994 

482 

0  47 

1898-99 

23,572,000 

5,513,396,760 

232 

11,274,840 

489 

0  48 

1899-00 

22,583,055 

4,757,062,942 

210 

9,436,416 

479 

0  44 

1900-01 

25,558,000 

4,958,252,000 

198 

10,383,422 

485 

0  41 

1901-02 

27,532,000 

5,176,016,000 

188 

10,680,680 

483 

0  39 

1902-03 

27,450,000 

5,188,050,000 

189 

10,727,559 

483 

0  39 

1903-04 

28,907,000 

4,885,283,000 

169 

10,011,374 

483 

0  35 

1904-05 

31,730,371 

6,695,108,281 

211 

13,565,885 

491 

0  43 

24 


COTTON 


CROP,   EXFORTS   AND    PRICES    FOR    SEVENTY    YEARS 


M 

Crop 

United  States 
Consumption 

Exports 

lis 

m 

Years 

Bales 

Bales 

Bales 

Cents 

1832-33 

1,070,438 

194,412 

807,000 

12.32 

1833-34 

1,205,394 

196,413 

1,028,000 

12.90 

1834-35 

1,254,328 

210,888 

1,023,500 

17.45 

1835-36 

1,360,725 

230,733 

1,110,000 

10.50 

1836-37 

1,423,930 

222,540 

1,109,000 

13.25 

1837-38 

1,801,497 

240,003 

1,575,000 

10.14 

1838-39 

1,360,532 

270,018 

1,074,000 

13.36 

1839^0 

2,177,835 

295,193 

1,870,000 

8.92 

1840^1 

1,034,954 

207,850 

1,313,500 

9.50 

1841-42 

1,083,574 

207,850 

1,405,500 

7.85 

1842-43 

2,378,875 

325,129 

2,010,000 

7.25 

1843-44 

2,030,409 

340,750 

1,029,500 

7.73 

1844-45 

2,394,503 

389,000 

2,083,700 

5.03 

1845^6 

2,100,537 

422,000 

1,000,700 

7.87 

1846-47 

1,778,051 

428,000 

1,241,200 

11.21 

1847-48 

2,439,780 

610,044 

1,858,000 

8.03 

1848-49 

2,800,938 

042,485 

2,228,000 

7.55 

1849-50 

2,233,718 

013,498 

1,590,200 

12.34 

1850-51 

2,454,442 

485,614 

1,988,710 

12.14 

1851-52 

3,126,310 

089,003 

2,443,040 

9.50 

1852-53 

3,416,214 

803,725 

2,528,400 

11.02 

1853-54 

3,074,979 

737,230 

2,319,148 

10.97 

1854-55 

2,982,634 

700,417 

2,244,209 

10.39 

1855-56 

3,665,557 

777,739 

2,954,006 

10.30 

1856-57 

3,093,737 

819,930 

2,252,057 

13.51 

1857-58 

3,257,339 

595,502 

2,590,455 

12.23 

1858-59 

4,018,914 

927,051 

3,021,403 

12.08 

1859-60 

4,861,292 

978,043 

3,774,173 

11. 

1860-61 

3,849,469 

843,740 

3,127,568 

13.01 

1861-62  1 

r  31.29 
J    07.21 
]  101.50 

1862-63  1 
1863-64  { 

.  . .  War  period .  . . 



1864-65  J 

t   83.38 

1865-66 

2,269,316 

000,100 

1.554,004 

43.20 

1806-07 

2,097,254 

770,030 

1,557,054 

31.59 

1867-68 

2,519,554 

900,030 

1,055,810 

24.85 

1868-09 

2,366,467 

920,374 

1,465,880 

29.01 

1869-70 

3,122,551 

865,100 

2,200,480 

23.98 

1870-71 

4,352,317 

1,110,190 

3,109,009 

10.95 

1871-72 

2.974,351 

1,237,330 

1,957,314 

20.48 

COTTON 


25 


CROP,   EXPORTS  AND  PRICES  FOR  SEVENTY  YEARS 

(Continued) 


1    R     g 

Crop 

United  States 
Consumption 

Exports 

Av.    price 
lb.  middJin 
uplands  in 

Year 

Bales 

Bales 

Bales 

Cents 

1872-73 

3,930,508 

1,201,127 

2,679,986 

18.15 

1873-74 

4,170,388 

1,305,943 

2,840,981 

17. 

1874-75 

3,832,991 

1,193,005 

2,684,708 

15. 

1875-76 

4,632,313 

1,351,870 

3,234,244 

13. 

1876-77 

4,474,069 

1,428,013 

3,030,835 

11.73 

1877-78 

4,773,865 

1,489,022 

3,360,254 

11.28 

1878-79 

5,074,155 

1,558,329 

3,481,004 

10.83 

1879-80 

5,761,252 

1,789,978 

3,885,003 

12.02 

1880-81 

6,605,750 

1,938,937 

4,589,346 

11.34 

1881-82 

5,456,048 

1,964,535 

3,582,622 

12.16 

1882-83 

6,949,756 

2,073,096 

4,766,597 

10.63 

1883-84 

5,713,200 

1,876,683 

3,916,581 

10.64 

1884-85 

5,706,165 

1,753,125 

3,947,972 

10.54 

1885-86 

6,575,691 

2,162,544 

4,336,203 

9.44 

1886-87 

6,505,087 

2,111,532 

4,445,302 

10.25 

1887-88 

7,046,833 

2,257,247 

4,627,502 

10.27 

1888-89 

6,938,290 

2,314,091 

4,854,573 

10.71 

1889-90 

7,311,322 

2,390,959 

4,996,543 

11.53 

1890-91 

8,652,597 

2,632,023 

5,783,101 

9.03 

1891-92 

9,035,379 

2,876,846 

5,868,545 

7.64 

1892-93 

6,700,365 

2,431,134 

4,410,524 

8.24 

1893-94 

7,549,817 

2,319,688 

5,360,318 

7.67 

1894-95 

9,901,251 

2,946,677 

6,926,025 

6.50 

1895-96 

7,157.346 

2,504,972 

4,751,384 

8.16 

1896-97 

8,757,964 

2,847,351 

6,088,521 

7.72 

1897-98 

11,199,994 

3,443,581 

7,674,065 

6.22 

1898-99 

11,274,840 

3,589,494 

7,452,116 

6. 

-  1899-00 

9,436,416 

3,665,412 

6,055,874 

8.69 

1900-01 

10,383,422 

3,588,501 

6,639,931 

8.96 

1901-02 

10,680,680 

3,988,501 

6,715,793 

8.75 

1902-03 

10,727,559 

4,161,374 

6,766,378 

10.27 

1903-04 

10,011,374 

3,946,219 

6,109,755 

12.42 

1904-05 

13,565,885 

4,445,650 

8,767,180 

9.11 

D.   H,   HILL  LIBRARY 

North  Carolina  State  College 


26  COTTON 

THE    LIMITS    OF    PROFITABLE    COTTON    PRODUCTION 
IN  THE  SOUTH 

Stretch  a  line  from  Norfolk  to  Memphis,  Lit- 
tle Rock  and  Dallas,  and  you  have  the  Cotton  Belt 
fairly  outlined — though  cotton  has  been  grown  to 
some  extent  north  of  this  line.  It  was  first  culti- 
vated in  Virginia.  One  hundred  and  twenty  years 
ago  it  was  found  on  farms  in  parts  of  Delaware. 
"At  the  time  of  the  Revolution  the  home-grown  cot- 
ton was  sufficiently  abundant  in  Pennsylvania  to 
supply  the  domestic  needs  of  the  State."  Three 
Maryland  counties  grew  the  crop  largely  up  to 
eighty  years  ago.  In  Civil  War  times  Nevada  and 
Illinois  also  figured  in  cotton  production. 

Of  late  years,  however,  the  production  of  cotton 
in  all  States  beyond  the  borders  of  the  old  Southern 
Confederacy  has  steadily  diminished.  Kentucky, 
Missouri,  Tennessee  and  Virginia  each  showed  a 
declining  yield  for  the  last  census  decade  as  com- 
pared with  the  preceding  decade. 

For  fifty  years  now  the  median  point  of  pro- 
duction has  been  within  a  radius  of  about  75  miles 
from  Jackson,  ^lississippi, — in  the  earlier  period 
northeast  of  Jackson,  but  in  the  last  twenty  years 
carried  northwest  by  the  increase  of  the  Texas 
crop  and  the  opening  up  of  new  lands  in  Oklahoma 
and  Indian  Territory.  The  cotton  section  west  of 
the  Mississippi  grew  34  per  cent,  of  the  crop  in 
1879,  38  per  cent,  in  1889,  and  43  per  cent,  in  1899. 
The  next  census  will  probably  show  the  center  of 
production  as  having  for  the  first  time  crossed  be- 
yond the  Father  of  Waters. 


CHAPTER  III. 

DOES  FOSEIGN  COMPETITION  THREATEN  THE  SOUTH'S 
SUPREMACY? 

The  figures  we  have  abeady  quoted  and  the  ta- 
bles of  statistics  we  have  given  leave  so  Httle  to  be 
said  about  the  subject  of  acreage  and  production 
in  the  South  that  we  now  proceed  directly  to  the 
inquiry  which  is  doubtless  uppermost  in  the  minds 
of  most  of  our  readers : 

Is  the  South  likely  to  maintain  its  present  su- 
premacy as  the  world's  chief  source  of  raw  cotton? 

For  it  is  really  the  South  against  the  field,  and 
all  the  countries  that  now  make  cotton  on  a  small 
scale  are  interesting  in  this  respect  only  as  we  re- 
gard them  as  a  combination  which  might  eventually 
rob  America  of  its  prestige. 

England's  efforts  to  become  independent  of 
slave-made  cotton 

It  is  not  a  new  subject.  Before  us  now  is  a  bulky, 
time-worn  volume,  bearing  on  its  title  page  the 
legend,  "Cotton  is  King:  and  Pro-Slavery  Argu- 
ments," and  one  of  the  weighty  problems  which 
engrossed  the  attention  of  its  compilers  was  the 
effort  England  was  making  to  free  herself  from 
dependence  on  slave-made  cotton.    I  have  also  dis- 


28  COTTON 

covered  in  this  musty  volume  some  extracts  from 
the  London  Economist  of  1859  which — except  for 
their  direct  references  to  slavery — might  well  have 
appeared  yesterday.  The  Economist  Editor  com- 
ments on  the  fact  that  Brazil,  Egypt  and  the  West 
Indies  all  grow  cotton  and  might  grow  more,  "but 
as  an  imimediate  and  practical  question  of  supply, 
it  is  confined  to  America  and  British  India." 

To  India,  however,  he  looks  very  hopefully. 
The  situation,  he  says,  "invests  the  subject  of 
Indian  cotton  growing  with  enormous  interest. 

In  some  important  respects  the 

conditions  of  supply  from  India  differ  very  much 
from  those  which  attach  to  and  determine  the  sup- 
ply from  America.  In  India  there  is  no  limit 
to  the  quantity  of  labor.  There  may  be  said  to  be 
little  or  none  to  the  quantity  of  land.  The  obstacle 
is  of  another  kind;  it  lies  almost  exclusively  in  lack 
of  cheap  transit."  Therefore  he  finds  new  hopes 
in  the  "railways  which  are  being  constructed  .  . 
.  .  .  to  bring  in  the  abundant  labor  of  millions 
of  our  fellow  subjects  in  India  to  cheapen  and  in- 
crease the  supply  of  cotton."  No  English  consul 
or  cotton  manufacturer  in  our  own  time  has  had 
a  severer  attack  of  Mulberry  Sellers  optimism  than 
did  this  Economist  writer  of  fifty  years  ago. 

"hope  springs  eternal  " 

Writing  later  in  1859,  the  Editor  of  the  Econo- 
mist lauded  in  the  highest  terms  the  continued 
efforts  to  make  England  independent  of  Southern 
cotton.  "We  cannot  well  conceive  of  stronger  con- 
siderations than  those  which  are  moving  English- 
men to  action  in  this  particular,"  he  says;  ,and  this 
time  he  also  lays  stress  on  the  opportunities  in 


COTTON  29 

Africa.  Missionaries  from  various  sections  also 
believed  that  West  Africa  and  the  Niger  countries 
would  relieve  the  situation;  and  Lord  Palmerston 
shared  the  enthusiastic  faith  that  Great  Britain 
would  "find  on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa  a  most 

valuable  supply  of  cotton cotton 

districts more     extensive     than 

those  of  India." 

If  Alexander  Pope  were  alive  to-day  he  could 
ask  no  stronger  confirmation  of  his  famous  dictum 
that  "hope  springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast" 
than  the  persistence  with  which  English  manu- 
facturers still  hug  the  delusion  that  Africa  and 
India  will  enable  them — as  their  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers fifty  years  ago  hoped  it  would  enable  them 
— to  get  a  large  part  of  their  raw  cotton  from 
Old  World  districts. 

WHAT  HAPPENED  WHEN  THE  CRUCIAL  TEST  CAME 

We  all  remember  how  on  one  occasion  Uncle 
Remus  was  telling  the  Little  Boy  of  one  of  Brer 
Rabbit's  hair-breadth  escapes.  The  pursuer  was 
almost  upon  Mr.  Cottontail  and  in  another  moment 
might  have  had  him  in  his  furious  grasp.  "And 
right  then  Brer  Rabbit  he  dumb  a  tree,"  said 
Uncle  Remus. 

"But  rabbits  can't  cHmb  trees,"  protested  the 
Little  Boy. 

"Never  mind,"  replied  the  old  darkey,  "Brer 
Rabbit  this  time  was  obleeged — jest  obleeged — to 
cHmb  the  tree — en'  he  dumb  it." 

Well,  in  1862  the  English  spinner  reached  the 
same  inexorable  crisis  that  confronted  Brer  Rabbit 
— the  time  when  he  knew  he  was  "jest  obleeged 
to  cHmb  the  tree." 


30  COTTON 

And  he  didn't  climb  it. 

SOME   state's   evidence 

Let  the  British  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica  tell  the  story.  Let  us  hear  this  piece  of 
State's  evidence  as  to  the  crisis  which  came  when 
war  so  nearly  stopped  cotton  production  in  the 
South: 

"This  great  source  of  supply,  when  apparently 
most  abundant  and  secure,  was  shortly  afterwards 
suddenly  cut  oiF,  and  thousands  were  for  a  time  de- 
prived of  employment  and  the  means  of  subsistence. 
In  this  period  of  destitution  the  cotton-growing 
resources  of  every  part  of  the  globe  were  tested  to 
the  utmost;  and  in  the  Exhibition  of  1862  the  rep- 
resentatives of  every  country  from  which  supplies 
might  be  expected  met  to  concert  measures  for  ob- 
taining all  that  was  wanted  without  the  aid  of 
America.  The  colonies  and  dependencies  of  Great 
Britain,  including  India,  seemed  well  able  to  grow 
all  the  cotton  that  could  be  required,  whilst  num- 
erous other  coimtries  were  ready  to  afford  their  co- 
operation. A  powerful  stimulus  was  thus  given  to 
the  growth  of  cotton  in  all  directions;  a  degree  of 
activity  and  enterprise  never  witnessed  before 
was  seen  in  India,  Egypt,  Turkey,  Greece,  Italy, 
Africa,  the  West  Indies,  Queensland,  New  South 
Wales,  Peru,  Brazil,  and  in  short  wherever  cotton 
could  be  produced;  and  there  seemed  no  room  to 
doubt  that  in  a  short  time  there  would  be  abundant 
supplies  independently  of  America.  But  ten  years 
afterwards,  in  the  Exhibition  of  1872,  which  was 
specially  devoted  to  cotton,  a  few  only  of  the  thirty- 
five  countries  which  had  sent  their  samples  in  1862 
again  appeared,  and  these  for  the  most  part  only  to 


COTTON  31 

bear  witness  to  disappointment  and  failure.  Amer- 
ica had  re-entered  the  field  of  competition,  and  was 
rapidly  gaining  ground  so  as  to  be  able  to  bid  de- 
fiance to  the  world." 

AFRICAN  AND  INDIAN  EXPERIMENTS  NOT  A  SUCCESS 

An  even  more  vivid  picture  of  the  inducements 
to  foreign  competition  which  England  held  out 
during  the  Civil  War  period  is  furnished  by  the 
1869  report  of  the  Cotton  Commissioner  of  India. 
So  immense  were  the  profits  that  the  Indian  cotton 
farmers  received,  he  says,  that  they  committed  all 
sorts  of  absurdities:  "Silver  plowshares  and  tires 
of  solid  silver  for  cartwheels  made  their  appear- 
ance here  and  there;  fancy  prices  were  paid  for 
bullocks  of  a  favorite  color  or  possessing  some 
peculiarities  of  tail,  and  enormous  sums  were 
squandered  on  marriage  ceremonies."  And  yet  in 
spite  of  the  enormous  subsidies  (virtually)  which 
were  paid,  and  the  energy  with  which  the  experi- 
ment was  prosecuted,  it  was  found  impossible  even 
with  artificial  inflation  to  carry  the  Indian  crop 
beyond  3,000,000  bales. 

As  to  Africa,  the  experiments  there  have  never 
been  at  any  time  anything  but  inglorious  failures; 
and  it  is  said  that  the  cotton  made  in  the  Niger 
territory  has  cost  50  cents  a  pound.  A  West  Afri- 
can correspondent  of  the  London  Times  says  that 
the  much  vaunted  "colonies  of  Lagos,  Southern 
Nigeria,  Gold  Coast,  Sierra  Leone,  and  Gambia, 
under  the  most  favorable  circumstances  .... 
will  not  be  capable  of  producing  more  than  350,- 
000  bales,  and  these  figures  will  not  be  attained  for 
many  years,  if  ever." 


32  COTTON 

world's  demand  will  grow  faster  than  foreign 
production 

It  is  not  likely,  of  course,  that  all  these  attempts 
to  grow  cotton  outside  the  South  will  fail  utterly; 
but  what  does  seem  sure  is  that  the  world's  demand 
for  cotton  will  grow  much  faster  than  the  foreign 
supply,  and  that  therefore  our  country  will  be  called 
on  in  the  future,  as  heretofore,  for  a  constantly  in- 
creasing crop. 

And  in  support  of  this  opinion  the  writer  will 
quote  just  three  opinions,  and  then  pass  on  to  other 
subjects. 

First,  our  own  National  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture in  its  Crop  Reporter  for  December,  1905, 
makes  this  conservative  statement  of  fact:  "The 
organized  efforts  of  powerful  associations  of  cotton 
manufacturers  in  Great  Britain,  Germany,  and 
France  to  establish  and  stimulate  cotton  production 
in  the  colonies  of  these  countries,  which  began  early 
in  1903  with  a  large  capital  subscribed  for  promo- 
tion, have  so  far  resulted  in  no  perceptible  addition 
to  the  world's  cotton  crop,  and  there  are  no  present 
indications  of  a  competition  of  new  fields  of  produc- 
tion which  will  materially  affect  the  foreign  market 
for  the  upland  cotton  of  this  country  for  many 
years." 

LOWER  SOUTH  AMERICA  ALONE  CAN  COMPETE  WITH 
THE  SOUTH 

Even  more  interesting  is  the  opinion  of  the  late 
Edward  Atkinson,  as  given  in  an  article  in  the 
Manufacturers'  Record  in  1903.  During  the  Civil 
War  Mr.  Atkinson  imported  cotton  from  India, 
Egj^pt,  China,  West  Africa,  Peru  and  Brazil,  and 
his  conclusion  is  that  nearly  all  the  foreign  cotton 


COTTON  33 

is  as  unsatisfactory  in  quality  as  it  is  deficient  in 
quantity.  None  of  the  countries  mentioned,  he 
says,  have  a  congenial  climate  such  as  ours.  The 
Indian  fiber  is  "short,  rough  and  unsuited  to  any 
but  the  coarsest  fabrics;"  the  Chinese  fiber  he  found 
"only  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  long;"  the  cotton 
from  West  Africa  "wholly  unfit  for  use  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  America;"  and  he  did  not  think  Peru  or 
Brazil  could  compete  with  the  South.  Summing 
up,  Mr.  Atkinson  declared  that  while  he  should 
like  to  beheve  otherwise,  he  was  forced  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  South  would  have  a  virtual  monopo- 
ly for  fifty  years.  "There  is  but  one  section  of  the 
earth's  surface,  where,  in  my  judgment,  there  can 
be  competition  with  our  Cotton  States  in  growing 
cotton  of  equal  quality,  and  that  is  on  the  high 
pampas  of  the  Paraguay  and  Parana  Rivers,  suf- 
ficiently elevated  to  be  free  from  tropical  condi- 
tions, endowed  with  a  soil  of  wonderful  fertility  and 
capable  of  unlimited  crops  of  cotton  and  wheat 

Therefore  our  Cotton  States  have  an 

imwholesome  but  practical  monopoly  of  the  cotton 
of  cormnerce.  They  are  not,  therefore,  under  the 
wholesome  stimulus  of  prospective  want,  and  there- 
fore their  method  as  a  rule,  subject  to  conspicuous 
exceptions,  in  dealing  with  their  land,  their  cotton 
and  their  cotton  bale,  is  as  bad  as  it  can  be,  as  I  have 
often  said  when  face  to  face  with  my  friends  in  the 
South." 

ENGLISH  AUTHORITIES  FINALLY  ADMIT  THE  SOUTH^S 
SUPREMACY 

Lastly  I  come  to  the  most  striking  testimony  of 
all — direct  evidence  given  by  "our  friends,  the  ene- 
my."   It  is  the  report  of  the  Commissioners  sent 


34  COTTON 

out  by  the  British  Government  to  investigate  the 
cotton-growing  possibilities  of  East  Africa;  and 
with  this  parting  shot  we  shall  drop  the  question  of 
possible  foreign  _  competition  with  the  Southern 
States : 

"All  efforts  to  raise  cotton  successfully  elsewhere 
than  in  the  Southern  part  of  the  United  States  have 
failed.  This  is  the  home  of  the  cotton  plant,  and  if 
it  will  grow  and  fruit  elsewhere  to  the  extent  that 
the  staple  have  a  substantial  commercial  value,  the 
fact  is  yet  to  be  demonstrated.  It  was  experi- 
mented with  under  different  suns  during  and  after 
the  American  Civil  War,  and  all  the  experiments 
failed.  Providence  has  given  the  Southern  farmer  a 
monopoly  of  the  indispensable  cotton  crop,  and  he 
need  not  take  fright  when  the  price  soars  and  there 
are  heard  threats  of  turning  Africa,  Egypt  or  other 
countries  into  cotton  fields  and  making  them  furnish 
the  world's  supply," 


fi£ 


JLl 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE      MEN      WHO      MAKE      COTTON:      WHITES      AND 
BLACKS ;  PLANTERS  AND  TENANTS 

Unique  in  many  other  features  already  men- 
tioned, cotton  is  also  unique  among  American  staples 
in  that  it  is  the  favorite  crop  of  the  negro  farmer 
and  that  in  its  production  a  larger  number  of  ten- 
ants are  employed  than  in  any  other  crop. 

WHY  THE  NUMBER  OF  TENANTS  INCREASED  IN  1890- 
1900 

Of  the  farms  in  the  ten  Cotton  States  in  1900 
48.3  per  cent,  were  operated  by  owners,  20.3  per 
cent,  by  cash  tenants,  and  31.4  by  share  tenants — 
showing  a  decrease  for  the  decade  of  15  per  cent,  in 
proportion  operated  by  owners,  a  gain  of  12  per 
cent,  in  the  proportion  worked  by  share  tenants,  and 
a  gain  of  33.1-3  per  cent,  in  percentage  operated  by 
cash  tenants.  Of  share  tenants  there  are  several 
classes.  Some  rent  land  only,  paying  therefor 
one-fourth  of  the  farm  product;  others  are  fur- 
nished land,  stock,  tools,  and  one-half  fertilizer, 
and  receive  one-half  the  crop,  while  still  others  are 
content  to  furnish  labor  only  for  one-third  the  yield. 

The  relative  decrease  in  number  of  farms  op- 
erated by  owners  during  the  last  census  decade  must 
be  attributed  to  the  emigration  of  farm  owners  to 

(35) 


36  COTTON 

towns,  as  a  result  of  the  depression  in  cotton  prices. 
Sir  Guilford  Molesworth  estimates  that  between 
1872  and  1894  prices  of  general  commodities  fell 
50  per  cent.,  while  cotton  prices  declined  70  per  cent. 
With  the  turn  in  the  tide  in  prices,  one  now  finds 
abundant  evidence  of  a  similar  turn  in  the  tide  of 
migration. 

negro's  importance  in  cotton  production  prob- 
ably OVERESTIMATED 

As  to  the  negro  in  cotton  production  there  are 
probably  conflicting  impressions  and  delusions.  "A 
regular  'cottontot'  "as  he  has  been  called,  the  negro, 
the  mule,  and  the  cotton  patch  are  inseparably- 
linked  together  in  the  public  mind.  In  1899  little 
more  than  half  of  the  Southern  white  farmers  grew 
cotton,  while  84  per  cent,  of  the  negroes  were  faith- 
ful to  their  favorite  staple. 

And  yet  it  is  more  than  likely  that  the 
average  reader  has  overestimated  the  negro's 
importance  as  a  factor  in  cotton-growing. 
It  is  so  picturesque  to  have  the  black  negro 
in  the  white  cotton  field  that  in  about  ninety- 
nine  per  cent,  of  our  book,  magazine,  and 
tourist  pictures  it  is  the  son  of  Ham  and  not  the 
white  man  who  is  laboring  with  the  fleecy  staple. 
As  a  result  of  all  this,  the  average  Northern  reader 
would  probably  be  surprised  to  leani  of  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  small  white  farmers  with  their  fam- 
ilies who  make  cotton  from  planting  to  picking  al- 
most or  entirely  without  negro  labor.  On  many 
farms  a  negro  is  never  employed;  on  many  others, 
negroes  are  called  in  only  for  a  few  days*  work  in 
the  height  of  the  busy  season. 


COTTON  37 

Of  the  1,418,000  cotton  farms  reported  in  1900, 
849,000  were  operated  by  whites.  White  farmers 
cultivated  14,616,000  acres,  and  negro  farmers, 
9,650,000  acres.  (Of  course,  though,  much  negro 
labor  was  hired  to  assist  in  cultivating  the  white 
farms.) 

THE  SHIFTLESS  NEGRO  TENANT  FARMER 

Of  the  negro  farmers  more  than  four-fifths  are 
tenants — or  about  500,000  of  the  nearly  600,000 
negro  farmers.  "Clearly  the  central  feature  of  the 
Southern  farm  life  of  the  negro  race,"  says  Prof. 
W.  E.  DuBois,  "is  the  tenant  class — this  half  mil- 
lion black  men  who  hire  farms  on  various  terms,  and 
a  large  proportion  of  whom  stand  about  midway  be- 
tween slavery  and  ownership." 

One  hardly  knows  whether  to  say  that  the  negro's 
indifference,  his  contentment  with  this  lot,  makes 
the  situation  more  or  less  tragical.  "Take  ye  no 
thought  for  the  morrow — what  ye  shall  eat,  nor  yet 
for  your  body,  what  ye  shall  put  on,"  is  one  Bible 
commandment  which  the  negro  literally  obeys. 
And  his  other  favorite  commandment  is  like  unto  it : 
"Multiply  and  replenish  the  earth" — taking  equally 
little  heed  for  the  morrow  of  the  niggerkins  them- 
selves, unless  Topsy-like,  they  "just  grow."  As  an 
old  negro  whom  the  writer  used  to  know  would  say, 
"If  I've  got  a  peck  of  corn  meal  in  the  bar'l,  I 
ain't  got  nothin'  to  worry  about." 

"The  one-room  cabin"  says  Prof.  Du  Bois,  "is 
still  the  typical  farm  home  of  the  negro,"  and  as 
for  his  food  and  disposition : 

"Oh,  I  gits  my  stren'th  from   white  side  meat, 

I  sops  all  de  sorghum  a  nigger  kin  eat, 

I  chaws  wheat  bread  on  Saddy  night 

En'  I  ain't  no  han'   to  run  f  um  a  fight." 


88  COTTON 

Let  us  look  for  a  minute  at  our  typical  negro 
tenant.  He  moves  in  December  to  a  new  farm,  we 
will  say — for  he  has  a  roving  instinct  that  prevents 
his  remaining  long  at  any  place.  He  probably 
rents  horse,  land  and  tools  from  the  farm  owner, 
taking  half  the  crop  for  his  labor,  and  the  farmer 
stands  his  security  for  supplies  at  the  nearest  store. 
Or  he  may  rent  land  only,  paying  one-fourth  the 
crop  for  the  land,  and  mortgage  his  unplanted 
crop  to  the  merchant  for  advance  supplies.  At 
any  rate,  the  negro's  recklessness,  coupled  with  the 
exorbitant  "time  prices"  charged,  leads  him  perhaps 
to  buy  more  than  his  crop  pays  for — so  that  the  mer- 
chant's reckoning  when  the  negro  brings  in  his 
three  or  four  bales  of  cotton  in  the  fall,  has  been 
pretty  accurately  set  forth  in  the  popular  couplet: 

"  Naught's  a  naught,  figger's  a  figger. 

All  for  the  white  man,  and  none  for  the  nigger." 

Heretofore  it  has  been  true  in  most  cases  per- 
haps that  the  negro  actually  ended  the  year  owing 
the  merchant  a  balance  on  the  year's  supplies — the 
merchant  not  allowing  the  balance,  however,  to  be- 
come more  than  just  large  enough  to  insure  the 
negro's  becoming  his  bondservant  for  another  year. 

If,  however,  the  negro  finds  himself  burdened 
with  an  unexpected  cash  surplus  after  paying  his 
debts,  he  probably  relieves  the  burden  aforesaid  by 
buying  an  organ  (which  no  member  of  his  family 
can  play)  or  a  calendar  clock  (the  dates  of  which 
he  can  barely  read)  or  a  magnificent  range  (on 
which  his  wife  will  experiment  with  side  meat  and 
corn  bread  until  she  becomes  disgusted  and  goes 
back  to  the  family  fire-place). 


HOW  THE  NEGRO  TENANTS  LIVE. 

The  pictures  show  typical  homes  of  negro  croppers  and  renters  of  the  poorer 
class.     The  houses,  however,  are  being  steadily  improved. 


NEGRO  PICKERS  AT  WORK  AND  AT  HOiME. 

(A)  Favorite  method  of  weighing  the  day's  harvest,  the  basket  supported  by  a 
fence  rail  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  two  men.     (B )  a  negro  cabin. 


COTTON  89 

A  DIFFERENT  TYPE  OF  NEGRO  FARMEK 

Such  is  our  typical  negro — "light-hearted,  good- 
natured  and  aisity  lynched,"  as  Mr.  Dooley  says — 
typical,  but  not  the  only  type.  A  by  no  means  in- 
considerable number  of  negroes  are  acquiring 
property,  building  better  houses,  and  adopting  im- 
proved methods  of  farming.  Many  negroes  once 
tenants  have  bought  portions  of  the  farms  where 
they  formerly  worked.  For  example,  take  Deal 
Jackson,  a  Georgia  negro  cotton  grower,  who  every 
year  for  seven  years  past  has  beaten  every  one  of  the 
110,906  white  farmers  of  his  State  in  getting  the 
first  bale  to  market.  Less  than  twenty  years  ago 
Deal  was  a  tenant.  He  borrowed  $1,000  to  buy  a 
run-down  farm,  mortgaging  the  place  as  security. 
Then  like  that  proverbially  modest  man  who 
wanted  each  year  to  buy  just  the  land  "j'inin'  his," 
so  Deal  continued  to  buy  adjoining  tracts  until  he 
has  2,000  acres  of  fertile  land,  operating,  with  his 
tenants,  forty-five  plows. 

WHEN    LOW    PRICES    CRUSHED    BOTH    WHITES    AND 
BLACKS 

ISTor  should  we  forget  that  it  is  not  the  negro 
alone  who  has  struggled  year  after  year,  Sisyphus- 
hke,  with  the  burden  of  debt.  Thousands  of  white 
tenants,  and  of  white  farm  owners  as  well,  have 
had  the  same  experience.  In  fact,  unless  the  farmer 
carried  some  surplus  savings  into  that  long  period 
of  low  prices  from  1891  to  1901,  such  an  experience 
was  almost  unavoidable.  With  any  reasonably 
high  standard  of  hving,  cotton  was  then  below  the 
cost  of  production.    No  wonder  farm  owners  moved 


40  COTTON 

to  towns  and  mortgages  became  almost  as  common 
as  they  were  in  the  AVest  in  the  days  of  low-priced 
corn.  Ten-cent  cotton  then  seemed  an  iridescent 
dream,  and  men  talked  of  it  as  the  feature  of  some 
Golden  Age  gone  never  to  return. 

CHANGES  RESULTING  FROM  HIGH-PRICED  COTTON 

Of  course,  with  the  coming  of  higher  prices  for 
cotton,  important  changes  are  taking  place.  The 
mortgage  and  the  crop  Hen,  with  all  except  the 
hopelessly  shiftless  class,  are  disappearing  like  snow 
before  a  summer  sun — unless  we  except  the  mort- 
gage given  by  the  aspiring  tenant  in  his  ambition 
to  become  a  land-owner  himself. 

As  to  the  future,  one  must  not  predict  too  lightly, 
for  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  present  high  price  of 
cotton  will  make  itself  felt  not  in  one  direction  only, 
but  in  counter  currents. 

As  one  result,  more  tenants  wish  to  buy  lands 
for  themselves ;  as  another  result,  land  is  increasing 
in  value  so  that  it  requires  greater  savings  to  buy 
it.  On  the  whole,  however,  it  is  now  relatively  easier 
to  become  one's  own  landlord,  and  with  high  prices 
the  tenant  class  is  likely  to  decrease. 

As  one  result,  too,  more  people  are  attracted  by 
the  old  plantation  system;  as  another  result,  labor- 
ers find  it  so  profitable  to  work  for  themselves  that 
labor  is  much  more  expensive  than  it  used  to  be. 
But  as  the  negro  works  better  in  groups,  the  large 
plantation  has  at  least  this  advantage  in  its  struggle 
to  reassert  itself. 

With  high  prices  then,  the  one  sure  thing — 
whether  the  proportion  of  tenants  increase  or  de- 
crease, whether  the  plantation  system  decline  or 


COTTON  4i 

flourish — is  that  a  larger  proportion  of  white  people 
will  engage  in  cotton  production.  If  labor  can  be 
had  few  town  occupations  are  more  profitable.  And 
as  for  the  man  who  has  his  own  labor,  who  must  have 
his  own  children  at  work,  how  much  better  for 
health,  safety  and  comfort,  as  well  as  profit, 
to  have  them  on  the  cotton  farm  instead  of  in  the 
cotton  factory! 

Already  many  cotton  mills  are  beginning  to  suf- 
fer for  labor  because  the  tide  is  turning  back  to 
the  farms. 


CHAPTER  V. 

A  25,000,000    BALE   crop:    will    the   south    be 

EE-ADY  WHEN  THE  WOKLD  DEMAXDS  IT? 

Thirty  years  ago  the  South  grew  only  4,000,000 
bales  of  cotton;  twenty  years  ago  6,000,000  bales; 
ten  years  ago,  8,000,000  bales;  the  last  three  crops 
have  averaged  more  than  11,000,000. 

And  the  end  is  not  yet.  Cotton  is  not  only  sup- 
planting other  fabrics  (we  have  seen  how  rapidly 
wool  production  is  decreasing) ,  but  the  demand  for 
the  great  Southern  staple  is  increasing  as  a  result 
of  the  constant  raising  of  our  standards  of  living 
and  of  comfort,  and  as  a  result  of  the  advance  of 
civilization  among  peoples  heretofore  barbarous. 
The  time  will  soon  have  passed  when  "the  lady  in 
middle  Africa  may  cavalierly  inform  the  agent  of 
the  American  cotton  mill  that  clothes  are  of  doubt- 
ful propriety  amongst  the  aristocracy  of  the  Con- 
go Valley  anyhow." 

THE    WORLD    WILL    DEMAND    42,000,000    BALES 

"It  is  estimated,"  says  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  "  that  of  the  world's  popula- 
tion of  1,500,000,000,  about  500,000,000  regularly 
wear    clothes,    about    750,000,000    are    partially 

(42) 


COTTON  43 

clothed,  and  250,000,000  habitually  go  almost 
naked,  and  that  to  clothe  the  entire  population  of 
the  world  would  require  42,000,000  bales  of  500 
pounds  each.  It  therefore  seems  more  than  likely 
that  the  cotton  industry  will  go  on  expanding  imtil 
the  whole  of  the  inhabited  earth  is  clothed  with  the 
products  of  its  looms." 

And  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  authors  that  the  South 
will  increase  her  production  just  as  fast  as  the  world 
increases  her  demands.  We  have  yet  a  shamefully 
low  average  yield;  we  are  depending  yet  on  fear- 
fully mistreated  soils ;  we  are  yet  planting  miserably 
selected  seed ;  and  we  have  very  inefficient  tools  and 
machinery.  Necessity,  that  mother  of  invention, 
will  help  us  reform  these  abuses — just  as  necessity 
brought  about  the  new  inventions  in  cotton  spin- 
ning, and  just  as  necessity  brought  about  Whitney's 
cotton  gin.  When  it  becomes  necessary  for  her  to 
furnish  the  world  25,000,000  bales  of"^  cotton,  the 
South  will  furnish  it. 

OF    SOUTHERN    LANDS    ONLY    ONE    ACRE    IN    SEVEN- 
TEEN NOW  IN  COTTON 

Even  if  we  were  not  going  to  double  the  3'ield 
( and  imless  the  boll  w^ee^^l  interferes,  men  now  liv- 
ing maj^  see  that  result) ,  we  have  enough  available 
idle  land  to  make  30,000,000  bales  with  the  present 
low  average  yield  per  acre.  Of  the  twelve  Cotton 
States  only  one  acre  in  seventeen  is  now  planted 
to  the  fleecy  staple,  and  only  one  acre  in  eleven  of 
the  cotton-producing  counties.  Onh^  two-fifths 
of  the  farm  lands  of  the  South  are  yet  improved  for 
any  sort  of  crop. 

The  great  trouble  is  that  we  have  so  long  allowed 
the  bulk  of  our  cotton  lands  to  be  butchered  by 


44  COTTOX 

negro  slaves  and  negro  tenants  that  we  do  not  yet 
appreciate  the  marvelous  possibilities  of  scientific 
cotton  farming.  Just  take  the  bald  statement  of 
Dr.  H.  J.  Webber:  "The  average  yield  of  cotton 
in  the  United  States  is  only  about  190  pounds  of 
lint  per  acre,  while  on  many  large  tracts  carefully 
cultivated  a  yield  of  500  to  800  pounds  per  acre 
is  frequently  obtained."  Here  in  itself  is  material 
for  a  book  of  sermons. 

SEED    SELECTION    MAY    INCREASE    YIELD    30    TO    50 
PER    CENT. 

For  one  thing,  the  seed  for  the  cotton  crop  are 
probably  selected  with  less  care  than  are  seed  for 
any  other  farm  crop  that  men  grow.  Your  cotton 
farmer  will  carefully  select  the  largest  and  best- 
formed  ears  for  his  seed  corn;  he  will  pay  high 
prices  for  improved  seed  or  oats;  even  his  water- 
melon seed  are  selected  from  the  most  luscious  and 
reddest-meated  specimens  of  last  simimer.  But 
when  it  comes  to  seed  for  his  cotton  crop  he  is 
strangely  careless.  The  average  farmer  gets  his 
seed  haphazard  from  the  general  supply  at  the  gin 
— good,  bad,  indifferent;  early,  late,  medium;  tall, 
bushy,  and  ordinary,  varieties  all  mixed. 

With  such  conditions  there  is  indeed  abundant 
reason  for  believing  that  the  average  cotton  yield  per 
acre  could  be  increased  one-fourth  by  only  five 
years'  wise  selection  of  seed.  We  know  a  farmer 
now  who  by  selecting  seed  from  the  most  thrifty 
stalks  and  having  the  seed  ginned  separately,  in 
two  years  so  improved  the  crop  from  the  selected 
seed  that  the  improvement  was  easily  noted  and 
became  a  matter  of  comment  by  persons  passing  on 


COTTON  45 

the  road.  We  know  another  farmer  who  by  a  few 
years'  seed  selection  has  increased  the  yield  of  cot- 
ton thus  improved  from  400  to  600  pounds  while 
seed  selected  in  the  old  way  grown  on  similar  land 
and  under  similar  conditions  still  makes  its  bare  400 
pounds  an  acre.  Fifty  per  cent,  increase  from 
four  years'  selection  of  seed ! 

Of  course,  where  a  special  type  of  cotton  has  been 
nurtured  and  improved  through  a  long  period  of 
years'  seed  selection  has  increased  the  yield  of  cot- 
results  can  be  obtained  than  with  ordinary  farm- 
bred  seed ;  and  when  our  farmers  come  to  a  proper 
appreciation  of  this  fact,  a  long  step  toward  the 
doubled  yield  will  have  been  made  by  this  one  re- 
form. Thus  one  of  our  State  Departments  of 
Agriculture,  speaking  of  a  five-year  test  of  cotton 
varieties  (with  practically  the  same  conditions  of  soil, 
fertilization  and  cultivation),  declares  that  in  1900, 
in  a  test  of  eight  varieties  the  difference  between 
the  variety  yielding  the  largest  amount  of  seed  cot- 
ton per  acre,  and  the  one  the  smallest,  was  565 
pounds;  in  1901  and  1902  in  tests  of  seven  varieties 
each,  the  differences  were  520  and  790  pounds  re- 
spectively; in  1903,  662  1-2  pounds  when  nine 
varieties  were  incorporated;  and  725  2-5  pounds 
difference  in  1904  in  a  test  of  twenty-one  varieties. 

In  other  words,  one  man  uses  intelligence  in  seed 
selection ;  another  man  does  not ;  both  work  equally 
hard;  both  have  land  of  equal  value;  both  expend 
the  same  amount  for  fertilizers — but  the  scientific 
cotton  farmer  gets  from  500  to  700  pounds  more 
per  acre  than  the  thoughtless  clodhopper. 

So  much  for  what  we  may  accomplish  by  seed 
selection  alone. 


46  COTTON 

coEN  se\t:n  times^  wheat  twice^  as  exhaustiye 

AS  COTTON 

But  it  is  not  alone  in  our  reckless  disregard  of 
the  ancient  laws  of  breeding  that  we  have  succeeded 
in  bringing  down  the  yield  of  cotton  far  below  what 
it  should  be;  like  a  Prodigal  Son,  wasting  his  sub- 
stance in  riotous  living,  we  have  also  been  guilty  of 
inexcusable  folly  in  dealing  with  Nature's  greatest 
gift  to  the  farmer — the  soil  itself.  Land-starved 
for  ages,  our  forefathers  came  from  Europe  to  our 
Southern  States  and  reveled  in  mad  intoxication  in 
the  seemingly  unlimited  areas  of  virgin  soils  they 
found.  Before  the  Civil  War  it  was  customary  to 
clear  up  land,  grow  a  few  crops  of  cotton  on  it, 
then  "turn  it  out"  to  broomsage  and  gullies,  and 
clear  up  more  new  lands  for  the  cotton  crop.  The 
old  fields  of  the  South  probably  cover  an  area  as 
large  as  five  of  the  New  England  States.  So  it  Was 
not  mere  poetic  sentiment,  but  the  deep  recognition 
of  a  damning  economic  sin  that  moved  Sidney 
Lanier  to  say : 

' '  Upon  that  generous  rounding  side 

With   gullies   scarified 
When  keen  Neglect  his  lash  hath  plied 
Yon  old  deserted  Georgian  hill 
Bares  to  the  sun  his  piteous  aged  crest 

And    seamy    breast, 
By  restless-hearted  children  left  to  lie 
Untended  there  beneath  the  heedless  sky. 
As  barbarous  folk  expose  their  old   to  die." 

Really,  as  we  shall  see  further  on  in  this  book, 
there  is  less  reason  for  the  abandoned  field  in  cotton 
growing  than  in  any  other  kind  of  farming.  An 
average  crop  of  wheat  requires  twice  as  much  plant 
food  as  an  average  crop  of  cotton,  and  an  average 
crop  of  corn  nearly  seven  times  as  much. 


COTTON  47 

Or  to  put  the  matter  in  even  more  striking  form, 
it  appears  that  if  through  feeding  and  manuring, 
the  wheat  straw,  corn  stover  and  cotton  seed  of 
these  three  crops  respectively  are  each  returned  to 
the  soil,  wheat  requires  nineteen  times  as  much  of 
the  great  fertilizing  elements  as  cotton,  and  corn 
thirty  times  as  much. 

Sooner  or  later  the  Southern  farmer  will  learn  to 
apply  this  doctrine ;  the  farm  paper,  the  agricultural 
text-book  in  the  public  school,  the  agricultural  col- 
lege, the  Farmers'  Institute  workers,  all  are  ham- 
mering away  at  the  idea.  And  then  when  the  cotton 
farmer  gets  this  double- jointed  idea:  first,  that  he 
has  the  finest  stock  food  in  the  world;  second,  that 
with  this  by-product  properly  utilized  he  has  the 
crop  that  is  of  all  crops  the  kindest  to  the  soil — and 
a  practical  monopoly  of  this  crop, — ^why,  then,  we 
shall  have  a  new  era  in  Southern  agriculture;  and 
as  Dr.  B.  T.  Galloway  says,  "a  system  of  land- 
robbing  will  give  way  to  a  system  of  land-building." 

THE  MECHANICAL  COTTON-PICKER 

But,  some  one  reminds  us,  in  this  day  of  labor- 
saving  machineiy  cotton  is  still  the  one  crop  most 
fully  dependent  on  hand  labor.  It  is  said  that 
within  fifty  years  the  time  of  human  labor  required 
to  produce  a  bushel  of  corn  has  decreased  from  four 
hours  to  thirty-four  minutes,  and  for  a  bushel  of 
wheat  from  three  hours  and  ten  minutes  to  ten  min- 
utes, while  it  is  doubtful  if  the  time  of  human  labor 
required  to  produce  a  pound  of  cotton  has  been  di- 
minished even  one-third.  What  then — when  the 
world  has  begun  to  demand  25,000,000  bales  of  the 
South,  even  though  we  have  so  improved  our  seed 


48  COTTON 

and  so  built  up  our  lands  as  to  find  no  difficulty 
here,  shall  we  not  nevertheless  be  hopelessly  balked 
by  lack  of  labor  for  chopping  and  picking  the  crop? 

This  problem,  in  our  opinion,  is  another  one  that 
is  Hkely  to  solve  itself  when  inexorable  circumstance 
demands  that  it  do  so. 

As  for  hoeing  the  cotton,  that  problem  is  already 
solved.  Within  two  miles  of  where  this  book  is 
written,  some  of  the  finest  cotton  in  the  county  was 
grown  last  year  entirely  without  hand-chopping — 
simply  by  the  right  use  of  the  peg-tooth  smoothing 
harrow  and  the  cultivator.  The  cotton  was  thinned 
and  kept  free  from  grass  entirely  by  these  tools. 
And  instead  of  the  average  yield  of  200  pounds  of 
lint  per  acre,  this  land  made  700  pounds  of  lint  per 
acre! 

A  much  more  serious  problem  is  the  mechanical 
cotton-picker.  There  are  many  lions  in  the  path. 
Cotton  does  not  open  all  at  once,  but  irregularly 
through  a  period  of  several  weeks.  Cotton  does  not 
have  the  uniformity  of  corn  or  wheat  in  size  or 
position,  but  is  irregularly  placed  in  the  rows,  its 
limbs  grow  all  over  it,  and  the  plants  vary  hope- 
lessly in  size;  the  limbs  furthermore  are  easily 
broken.  Finally,  the  lint  should  be  free  from  dirt 
and  trash,  and  many  have  thought  that  only  the 
human  hand  could  select  the  lint  from  the  open  bolls 
without  adding  a  ruinously  large  quantity  of  dead 
leaves  and  dirt. 

Clearly,  therefore,  the  making  of  a  mechanical 
picker  is  a  hard  task,  and  yet  so  fertile  is  the  human 
imagination  and  so  enormous  are  the  rewards  await- 
ing the  man  who  succeeds  in  making  an  effective 
picker — the  wealth  of  Croesus  may  be  his — that 
we  expect  it  to  come,  and  to  come  not  very  many 


COTTON  49 

years  hence.  Writing  of  this  matter  in  a  farm 
paper  early  in  1904,  we  said:  "The  present  labor 
crisis  in  the  Cotton  Belt  is  certain  to  bring  the  mat- 
ter to  the  attention  of  inventors.  We  have 
long  thought  of  the  cotton  picker  as  an  impossi- 
bility, because  the  bolls  are  irregularly  placed, 
ripen  irregularly,  and  must  not  be  mixed  with 
limbs  and  leaves  in  picking.  But  the  suggestion 
now  made  puts  the  matter  in  a  new  light.  Instead 
of  a  harvesting  machine  on  a  big  scale  such  as  we 
have  for  grain,  a  small  machine  carefully  guided 
and  watched  over  by  an  operator,  would  be  put  to 
the  task  of  taking  the  cotton  from  the  open  bolls. 
It  does  not  look  as  if  this  should  be  whollj^  impos- 
sible. And  as  there  are  millions  in  it  for  the  man 
who  succeeds  at  it,  it  is  likely  to  be  done  if  it  can 
be  done." 

THE  LOWRY   COTTON    PICKER  DESCRIBED 

Within  the  last  few  months  the  South  has  seen 
this  "small  machine  carefully  guided  and  watched 

over  by  an  operator, put  to  the 

task  of  taking  the  cotton  from  the  open  boUs."  It 
is  the  Lowry  Picker,  and  its  mode  of  operation  has 
been  fully  described  as  follows;  the  photographs 
given  herewith  making  the  matter  still  plainer: 

"The  machine  is  not  entirely  automatic,  as  the 
arms  that  carry  the  little  wheels  which  gather  in  the 
fleecy  staple  must  be  directed  by  human  hands  to 
the  open  bolls.  The  arms  carry  a  chain  with 
hooked  teeth,  adjusted  like  the  chains  of  a  bicycle. 
When  the  machine  is  in  operation  this  chain  re- 
volves rapidly  and  the  curved  hooks  gather  up  the 
staple    the  instant  it  touches    the   open   boll,   and 


50  COTTON 

carries  the  cotton  upward  until  it  is  deflected  off 
into  a  receptacle,  by  a  revolving  brush.  The  ma- 
chine carries  four  operators  and  a  driver,  for  each 
of  whom  a  comfortable  seat  is  prepared.  There 
is  no  necessity  for  any  bending  or  stooping  on  the 
part  of  the  operator,  and  all  he  is  required  to  do 
is  to  direct  the  well-balanced  and  nicely-adjusted 
arms  of  the  machine.  It  is  claimed  by  the  inventor 
that  when  finally  perfected  each  arm  should  gather 
up  one  boll  per  second,  at  a  very  low  rate  of  speed, 
making  480  bolls  per  minute  for  the  four  opera- 
tions, or  28,800  per  hour.  As  the  bolls  early  in  the 
season  average  60  to  80  in  the  pound,  one  macliine 
could  pick  from  3,600  to  4,800  pounds  per  day  of 
ten  hours.  One  of  these  machines  with  four  boys 
and  a  driver  could  do  the  work  of  twenty  average 
pickers." 

Some  who  have  seen  the  Lowry  Picker  ask: 
"And  what  shall  it  profit  the  cotton  farmer  to  have 
this  machine,  since  even  M-ith  it  the  human  hand, 
or  what  is  virtually  an  extension  of  the  human 
hand,  must  be  directed  to  each  individual  boll?" 
The  advantage  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  man  who 
operates  the  mechanical  hand  at  least  saves  (or 
should  save)  the  time  required  in  bending  over 
each  new  stalk  and  the  time  required  in  drawing 
his  hand  back  and  forth  in  putting  each  separate 
handful  into  his  picking-sack — and  this  is  more 
than  half  the  time  required  in  picking. 

Others  who  think  Mr.  Lowry  has  invented  a 
practical  device  for  picking  the  cotton  say  that  he 
has  hampered  its  success  by  putting  it  in  connec- 
tion with  a  motive  power  which  is  not  satisfactory: 
in  other  words,  he  is  sacrificing  a  good  invention 


~"l^ 


^11 


COTTON  51 

of  great  possibilities  by  yoking  it  with  a  motive- 
power  invention  absolutely  worthless. 

Whatever  the  difficulties,  we  may  be  sure  that  if 
Mr.  Lowry's  basic  principle  is  right,  it  will  sooner 
or  later  be  separated  from  all  entangling  alliances 
and  set  to  the  service  of  a  great  need.  And  sup- 
pose it  succeeds  simply  in  doing  the  work  of  four 
men?  Or  suppose  it  reduces  the  cost  of  picking 
by  just  half?  Picking  now  costs  $100,000,000  a 
year — think  of  saving  just  $50,000,000  annually 
to  the  South!  Or  to  put  it  differently,  "To  pick  a 
crop  of  11,000,000  bales,  at  an  average  of  150 
pounds  of  seed  cotton  a  day  per  picker,  means  that 
for  a  picking  season  of  three  months,  consisting  of 
twenty  working  days  each,  somewhat  over  1,830,- 
000  people  must  be  kept  at  work.  Hence  the  basis 
for  the  claim  that  a  picker  doing  the  work  of  four 
men  would  reduce  1,500,000  people  to  other  in- 
dustries for  a  fourth  of  each  year." 

Indeed,  there  are  millions  in  it! 


NoTg. — Of  course  many  other  pickers  besides  the  Lowry  have  been 
brought  before  the  public,  but  the  Lowry  is  clearly  the  one  that  now 
gives  most  promise  of  success.  We  know  an  old  man  who  twenty 
years  ago  invented  a  picker  and  still  has  faith  that  his  idea  will  work 
into  a  success.  An  incorporated  company,  the  Dixie  Cotton  Picker  Co. , 
of  Chicago,  is  also  at  work  upon  the  problem,  and  we  are  indebted  to 
them  for  the  pictures  of  their  machine  appearing  herewith,  and  for  the 
following  description  of  how  it  works : 

"The  two  large  wheels  of  the  machine  travel  in  the  furrows  between 
the  rows,  the  plants  being  gathered  into  the  front  of  the  machine  between 
the  two  points  of  the  gatherers;  and,  as  the  bushes  strike  the  apron, 
they  are  gently  bent  over  to  the  ground  so  that  the  picking  spindles 
enter  the  same  while  the  plants  are  held  between  the  skirts  running 
parallel  with  the  machine.  There  is  continually  entering  the  bushes 
during  the  progress  of  the  machine  forward  about  60  revolving  picking 
fingers.  It  is  evident,  also,  that  much  cotton  will  be  picked  even 
though  it  be  lying  upon  the  ground,  because  these  picking  fingers  with 
every  vertical  thrust  downward  reach  clear  to  the  ground.  Each  of 
these  picking  fingers,  while  in  the  plant,  makes  22  revolutions  and  con- 
tinues revolving  about  their  own  axes  until  they  have  disappeared  into 
the  machine;  at  which  time  they  cease  revolving,  and  a  stripping  wheel 


52  COTTON 

cleans  the  cotton  by  traversing  the  full  length  of  each  spindle.  This 
stripping  wheel  is  better  termed  a  slotted  wheel  which  revolves  rapidly 
in  the  opposite  direction  to  that  which  the  spindle  or  picking  fingers  are 
traveling;  and  after  clearing  the  cotton  from  the  fingers,  it  is  carried 
up  to  a  point  where  a  set  of  doffer  wheels  clears  the  slotted  wheel  of  its 
load  of  cotton,  throwing  the  same  into  a  basket  which  rides  on  the  rear 
of  the  machine.  The  machine  weighs  about  1200  pounds,  has  a  raising 
and  lowering  device  upon  it  which  is  essential  in  getting  iu  and  out  of 
the  cotton  field  as  well  as  in  turning  around." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

cotton:  what  it  means  and  will  mean  to  the 
southern  states 

Cotton ! 

To  every  boy  born  and  bred  in  the  Southern 
States  it  is  a  magical  word  from  the  time  he  is  big 
enough  to  roll  in  its  billowy  heaps  in  the  "cotton 
house"  or  go  out  into  the  June  cotton  field  to  find 
the  first  white  bloom  for  his  father,  or  ride  to  the  gin 
on  the  big  two-horse  wagon-bed  which  the  hands 
have  packed  with  the  snowy  fleece  new-gathered 
from  the  autumn  fields.  White  or  blacky  if  his 
father  is  not  of  unusual  wealth,  he  early  learns  to 
labor  with  his  own  hands  in  making  the  crop;  and 
the  entire  process  of  cultivation  is  familiar  to  him. 

EVERY  SOUTHERN  BOY  KNOWS  COTTON  FARMING 

Long  before  he  leaves  off  knee  pants  he  learns 
to  plow  the  cool,  fresh  earth  in  early  spring;  helps 
haul  out  the  great  loads  of  manure  from  the  barn; 
brings  in  the  malodorous  loads  of  fertilizer  from  the 
nearest  village;  helps  "roll"  the  planting  seed  in 
wet  ashes,  so  that  the  dry  lint  may  not  hold  them 
together  in  bunches.  For  planting  time  is  now  at 
hand:  the  dogwoods  are  blossoming;  the  first  "tur- 
tle-dove" has  been  heard;  the  fisherman  has  begun 
to  tell  of  satisfactory  catches  in  the  nearby  streams ; 
"Uncle  Isaac"  and  "Black  Bob"  dispute  wisely 
as  to  whether  this  phase  of  the  moon  portends  warm 

(53) 


54  COTTON 

or  cool  weather,  wet  or  dry.  For  the  cotton  seed 
must  be  ready  to  "come  up"  as  soon  as  all  danger 
of  frost  is  passed;  and  now  the  rows,  ridged  and 
waiting,  are  opened,  and  fertilizer  and  seed  dis- 
tributed. Then  the  long  green  line  of  two-leaved 
plants,  bursting  the  hard  seed-covering  they  have 
pushed  above  ground — and  the  grass  that  will  not 
let  them  be  and  that  we  have  always  with  us.  Chop- 
ping then — ^white  and  black,  old  and  young,  every- 
body strong  enough  to  handle  a  hoe.  And  the 
plants  flourish  under  the  summer  sun;  now  "hoe- 
hands"  report  that  some  plants  have  "seven  leaves," 
then  that  limbs  have  come,  and  squares — and  finally 
the  anxiety  as  to  which  farmer  in  the  neighborhood 
shall  report  the  first  bloom,  or  which  one  in  the 
county  shall  send  the  first  one  to  the  editor  of  the 
county  paper.  Weeks,  then,  of  budding  and  bloom- 
ing and  growing,  the  thrifty  branches  bedecked  with 
white  blooms  that  opened  this  morning  and  red 
blooms  of  yesterday,  and  becoming  heavy  now 
with  green  and  growing  bolls.  Then  on  the  lowest 
stalks  the  bolls  begin  to  open — and  who  now  will  gin 
the  first  bale?  The  women  in  the  towns  begin  to 
tremble  for  their  negro  cooks,  and  employers  of 
colored  men  also  begin  to  scent  danger.  For  the 
coronation  of  King  Cotton  is  at  hand;  and  all  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  Ham  must  dance  attendance. 
Cotton-picking  has  an  irresistible  attraction  for  all 
negroes,  especially  when  the  picking  is  done  in 
groups,  and  though  they  stay  in  town  even  through 
the  watermelon  season,  cotton  picking  is  likely  to 
lure  them  back  to  farms. 

"The  real  depth  of  feeling,"  as  some  one  has  said, 
"the  sheer  abandon  and  the  proper  stage  setting 
does  not  come  until  September  has  touched  the  cot- 
ton fields,  and  the  great  hearts  of  the  maturing  bolls 


COTTON  55 

burst  with  joy.  That  is  the  supreme  moment,  and 
the  beautifully  blended  voices  of  the  negro  cotton 
pickers  of  the  South  is  a  sound,  once  heard,  never 
to  be  forgotten.  One  cannot  find  any  adjective  to 
express  the  wild  untutored  beauty  of  it.  It  is  a 
chant  of  inexpressible  rhythm,  with  a  note  of  sad- 
ness and  mingled  hope  and  regret,  and  one  cannot 
stop  without  burdening  it  with  that  indefinable 
qualification — and  calling  it  weird  .  .  .  these 
days  and  nights  filled  with  song  and  laughter,  and 
the  nimble  plying  of  fingers  set  to  music  that  is  per- 
haps a  lone  relic  of  a  long-forgotten  Congo." 

IN  DIXIE  COTTON  IS  REALLY  KING 

All  this  the  Southern  man  knows  from  his  youth 
up ;  it  is  his  inheritance  and  a  part  of  his  life.  For 
whatever  it  may  or  may  not  be  to  the  rest  of  the 
world,  in  "Dixie"  cotton  is  really  king.  Here 
cotton  is  the  life  blood  of  commerce,  its  condition, 
the  thermometer  of  trade.  Every  man  talks  cotton; 
every  man  has  an  opinion  as  to  the  size  of  the  crops; 
the  weather  conditions  in  Texas  and  throughout 
the  Cotton  Belt  are  subjects  of  general  interest; 
the  Government  crop  report  is  read  with  more  in- 
terest than  anything  else  a  newspaper  prints. 

When  cotton  prices  drop,  every  Southern  man 
feels  the  blow;  when  cotton  prices  advance,  every 
industry  throbs  with  new  vigor. 

We  can  see  then  what  it  means  to  the  South  when 
we  say  that  for  the  last  five  crops  for  which  the  fig- 
ures may  be  given,  she  has  received  nearly  $1,000,- 
000,000  more  than  for  the  preceding  five  crops — 
twice  as  much  money  as  is  invested  in  all  our  Ameri- 
can cotton  mills.  For  the  crop  of  1904  and  1905 
she  received  $341,000,000  more  than  for  the  crop 


56  COTTON 

of  1899 — which  sum  if  equally  divided,  would  give 
a  surplus  of  $240  to  each  of  the  1,418,000  farms 
growing  cotton,  of  $21  each  to  every  one  of  the 
16,000,000  inhabitants  of  the  Cotton  States. 

ASTOUNDING  SOUTHERN  PROSPEEITY 

Small  wonder  that  Southern  railways  report 
heavier  increases  in  earnings  than  lines  in  any  other 
section  of  the  country. 

Small  wonder  that  the  assessed  valuation  of 
Southern  property  is  now  increasing  three  times  as 
rapidly  as  in  the  decade  1890-1900. 

Small  wonder  that  savings  and  bank  deposits  in 
the  Southern  States  from  1900  to  1905  increased 
more  than  100  per  cent,  while  the  increase  for  the 
rest  of  the  United  States  was  only  50  per  cent. 

Small  wonder  that  it  is  no  extraordinary  affair 
a  Sampson  County,  North  Carolina,  farmer  re- 
ported to  us  when  he  said  last  week  that  a  farm  he 
bought  four  years  ago  for  $57.50  per  acre  would 
sell  now  for  $100;  another  farm  bought  then  for 
$3,000  was  recently  sold  for  $8,000 ;  land  values  in 
his  county  have  increased  33  1-3  per  cent,  within  a 
year,  a  total  increase  of  a  million  dollars  for  this 
one  cotton  county.  (  We  know  of  two  South  Caro- 
lina cotton  farms,  one  of  which  in  three  years  has 
increased  in  selling  price  from  $3,000  to  $8,000  and 
another  from  $7,000  to  $20,000.) 

Small  wonder  that  Dr.  Walter  H.  Page  declares 
in  the  World's  Work  that  we  "are  in  sight  of  the 
time  when  the  cotton  grower  in  the  old  Slave  States 
will  become  the  most  prosperous  tiller  of  the  earth." 

It  is,  in  fact,  a  new  South  that  we  have.  The 
factory,  the  bank,  the  church,  the  school,  the  news- 
paper— all  are  benefited  by  the  increase  in  prices 


COTTON  BOLLS:  FIBERS  OTHER  THAN  COTTON. 

TheboUs  are  typical  (1)  Asiatic,  (2)Sea  Island,  (3)  American  Upland;  (B)  rep- 
common  hard  fibers  other  than  cotton;   (C)  soft  fibers;  flax,  hemp,  and  jute. 


COTTON  57 

paid  for  the  South's  great  staple  crop.  The  archi- 
tect will  tell  you  that  he  is  building  better  houses 
than  ever  before;  the  furniture  dealer  will  tell  you 
that  he  is  shipping  more  furniture  than  ever  before ; 
the  manufacturer  of  implements  and  machinery  will 
acknowledge  that  Southern  progress  astounds  him; 
the  schools  report  record-breaking  openings;  the 
newspaper  subscription  gains  threaten  to  overtake 
the  circulation  manager's  estimates;  and  even  the 
preacher  joins  in  with  the  storj^  that  for  once  his 
salary  is  paid  promptly  and  in  full,  and  that  a  ser- 
mon on  foreign  missions  is  now  unprecedentedly 
effective. 

IT  MEANS  THE  COMING  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH 

These  things  cannot  fail  to  have  the  most  far- 
reaching  influence  upon  every  phase  of  Southern 
life.  Prosperity  will  bring  more  education,  more 
travel,  greater  contentment,  more  liberal  thought — 
in  fact  as  Sidney  Lanier  said  nearly  thirty  years 
ago: 

"One  has  only  to  remember  that  whatever  crop 
we  reap  in  the  future — whether  it  be  a  crop  of 
poems,  of  paintings,  of  symphonies,  of  constitu- 
tional safeguards,  of  virtuous  behaviors,  of  religious 
exaltations — ^we  have  got  to  bring  it  out  of  the 
ground  with  palpable  plows  and  with  plain  farmer's 
forethought,  in  order  to  see  that  a  vital  revolution 
in  the  farming  economy  of  the  South,  if  it  is  actu- 
ally occui'ring,  is  necessarily  carrying  with  it  all  fu- 
ture Southern  politics  and  Southern  relations  and 
Southern  art,  and  that  therefore  such  an  agricul- 
tural change  is  the  one  substantial  fact  upon  which 
any  really  New  South  can  be  predicted." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  COTTON  GROWERS  AND  WHAT 
IT   MAY   ACCOMPLISH 

"The  great  secret  of  success,"  said  Lord  Beacons- 
field,  "is  to  be  ready  when  your  opportunity  comes." 

One  might  go  far  and  not  find  a  better  illustra- 
tion of  the  tinith  of  Disraeli's  assertion  than  is  af- 
forded by  the  career  of  Hon.  Harvie  Jordan, 
President  of  the  Southern  Cotton  Association.  His 
opportunity  came  in  December,  1904,  when  the 
Government  ginners'  report,  indicating  a  crop  of 
12,000,000  bales,  startled  the  country — electrified 
the  bears,  and  hopelessly  dazed  the  bulls.  Cotton 
prices  went  toppling,  dropping  two  cents  a  pound 
almost  immediately. 

WHEN    HARVIE    JORDAN^S    OPPORTUNITY    CAME 

For  several  years  Jordan  had  been  fitting  himself 
for  a  time  like  this.  At  the  head  of  the  nominal 
Cotton  Growers'  Protection  Association  which  he 
had  organized  and  which  his  personality  had  largely 
kept  together,  his  voice  had  been  as  that  of  one  cry- 
ing in  the  wilderness;  and  always,  Raven-like,  his 
song  had  borne  one  burden — the  need  of  a  farmers* 
organization  for  the  purposes  of  self  protection. 
When  the  crash  came,  and  turned  everything  in 
the  Southern   States  topsy-turvy,  serene  Harvie 

(58) 


COTTON  59 

Jordan  sounded  the  same  bugle-note  which  South- 
ern farmers  had  hitherto  refused  to  heed. 

Now  they  heard  him. 

A  call  was  issued  for  a  great  mass  meeting  in 
New  Orleans  January  24-29,  1905. 

One  of  the  most  pathetic  pictures  in  history  is  that 
of  the  faithful  remnant  of  the  old  French  nobility 
crowding  around  poor  King  Louis  when  his  star 
had  almost  set,  thrilled  again  by  a  deep  loyalty  to 
the  ancient  throne  then  tottering,  and  passionately 
swearing  allegiance  once  more  to  their  hapless 
king,  while  the  touching  strains  of  "Richard,  My 
Richard,  All  the  World  is  Leaving  Thee!"  floated 
through  the  ill-fated  Parisian  palace. 

It  was  with  some  such  earnest  loyalty,  but  with 
confidence  the  exact  opposite  of  the  French  despair, 
that  the  followers  of  King  Cotton  met  in  New  Or- 
leans that  January  day.  What  they  said  and  did 
it  is  not  our  purpose  to  record  here  in  detail.  They 
did  resolve  that  the  South  should  reduce  her  acreage 
20  per  cent,  as  compared  with  the  previous  year, 
and  they  organized  the  Southern  Cotton  Associa- 
tion to  carry  this  resolution  into  effect. 

With  a  manifest  overproduction,  with  cotton 
selling  at  the  time  for  six  or  seven  cents,  and  with 
five-cent  prices  confidently  predicted  by  the  bear 
leaders  of  the  New  York  Cotton  Exchange,  it  took 
considerable  courage  for  the  New  Orleans  Cotton 
Convention  to  declare  that  the  remainder  of  the 
1904  crop  should  be  held  for  ten  cents. 

Such  a  resolution,  however,  was  almost  unani- 
mously adopted.  And  within  six  months  the  ten 
cent  figure  was  reached — largely  as  a  result  of  the 
success  of  the  movement  for  reducing  the  cotton 
acreage. 


60  COTTO:Nr 

HOW  ORGANIZATION  HELPED  ACREAGE  REDUCTION 

It  is  easy  to  say,  of  course,  that  cotton  prices  hav- 
ing become  unsatisfactory,  the  cotton  acreage  would 
have  been  reduced  without  the  aid  of  the  Cotton  As- 
sociation; but  it  would  certainly  not  have  been  re- 
duced to  such  an  extent.  For  if  the  farmer  in  the 
Carolinas  had  felt  that  the  farmer  in  Texas  was  re- 
ducing his  acreage  on  account  of  low  prices,  the 
Carolina  farmer  would  have  thought  it  a  good  time 
to  increase  his  own  crop — and  vice  versa.  For  "that 
air  same  Jones"  who  figures  in  Sidney  Lanier's 
poem  is  but  the  type  of  thousands  and  thousands  of 
cotton  growers;  and  we  all  recall  how  he  read  the 
arguments  for  reducing  cotton  acreage  and  diversi- 
fying crops — 

And  presently  says  he:     "  Hit's  true; 

That  Aisley's  head  is  level. 
Thar's  one  thing  farmers  all  must  do. 
To  keep  themselves  from  goin'  tew 

Bankruptcy  and  the  devil ! 

"  More  corn  !   more  corn  !   must  plant  less  ground, 
And  mustn't  eat  what's  boughten  I 
Next  year  they'll  do  it  :  reasonin's  soimd  : 
(And   cotton  '11  fetch  'bout  a  dollar  a  pound,) 
Tharfore,  I'll  plant  all  cotton  I  " 

With  Texas  and  Carolina  alike  pledged  to  a  25 
per  cent,  reduction,  however,  and  with  each  section 
feeling  in  honor  bound  not  to  take  treacherous  ad- 
vantage of  its  neighbor's  fideHty,  the  cotton  farmers 
of  the  South  were  moved  by  a  common  purpose, 
worked  together  earnestly  to  a  common  end — 
and  succeeded.  When  we  attended  the  meeting 
of  the  Southern  Cotton  Association  in  Asheville  in 
the  fall  of  1905,  not  ten  cents,  but  eleven  cents,  was 
fixed  as  the  price  of  the  crop  then  maturing. 


COTTON  61 

DEMORALIZING   CHANGES   IN   PRICES 

If  it  had  no  other  object  the  organization  of  the 
cotton  farmers  would  find  ample  justification  in 
the  opportunity  it  affords  for  co-operation  in  keep- 
ing the  cotton  acreage  limited  to  the  apparent  de- 
mands of  commerce. 

Very  large  and  very  small  crops  are  alike  demor- 
alizing to  every  cotton  interest.  These  lead  to 
fluctuations  in  value  which  make  the  manufacturer's 
hair  turn  gray  as  he  tries  to  fix  a  fair  price  for  his 
product,  and  which  make  the  cotton  farmer  the  prey 
of  speculators  and  the  sport  of  chance. 

Take  the  difference  between  seventeen-cent 
prices  in  May,  1904,  and  seven-cent  prices  in  Janu- 
ary, 1905,  eight  months  later,  meaning  on  a  10,- 
000,000  bale  crop  the  difference  between  $350,- 
000,000  and  $850,000,000. 

The  remedy  for  all  this  lies  in  a  more  systematic 
plan  of  marketing — the  entire  cotton  crop  must  not 
be  rushed  pell-mell  upon  the  market  in  the  ninety 
days  of  the  picking  and  ginning  season.  Almost 
invariably  prices  the  following  spring  are  very 
much  better  than  during  the  fall;  and  this  is  natural, 
— in  fact,  inevitable. 

BUYERS  MAKE  FALL  PURCHASES  ONLY  WITH  ODDS  IN 
THEIR    FAVOR 

If  he  must  buy  during  the  picking  season  before 
the  size  of  the  crop  becomes  known,  the  spinner 
buys  on  the  assumption  that  the  larger  estimates  of 
yield  are  correct — and  he  must  then  allow  himself 
a  full  margin  of  safety,  else  it  were  better  to  keep 
his  money  employed  in  something  else  and  buy  later 
with  less  risk  and  with  less  outlay. 


62  COTTON 

In  a  word,  it  would  be  bad  business,  an  unsound 
economic  policy,  for  buyers  to  take  cotton  while 
the  size  of  the  crop  is  uncertain  except  upon  the 
basis  of  the  maximum  reasonable  estimates — which 
must  in  any  given  series  of  years  be  materially 
higher  than  the  correct  estimates. 

Selling  in  the  fall,  therefore,  the  cotton  farmer 
must  dispose  of  his  crop  with  the  knowledge  that 
the  odds  are  against  him,  and  that  the  buyer  could 
not  afford  to  take  a  supply  of  millions  of  bales  in 
excess  of  his  immediate  needs,  if  the  odds  were  not 
in  the  buyer's  favor. 

MORE  REGULAR  MARKETING  SURE  TO  COME 

Whatever  plans  may  be  discussed,  the  one  essen- 
tial, fundamental  thing  in  marketing  is  more  regu- 
lar distribution  of  sales;  and  even  if  the  warehous- 
ing system  does  not  become  general,  cotton  growers 
are  likely  to  break  away  very  rapidly  from  the  old 
plan  of  selling  cotton  as  fast  as  harvested.  In  the 
first  place,  every  "lien  farmer,"  every  farmer  with 
a  mortgaged  crop,  has  had  to  put  his  cotton  on  the 
market  immediately.  This  class,  as  has  been  said, 
is  now  rapidly  decreasing.  Then,  too,  other  farm- 
ers, hard  pressed  by  adversity  in  the  period  of  low 
prices,  were  unable  to  hold  their  product,  even  if 
confident  of  a  rising  market  later  on.  With  better 
prices,  therefore,  inevitably  comes  greater  freedom 
and  more  gradual  marketing. 

LEAVING  COTTON  EXPOSED  TO  THE  WEATHER 

If  there  is  anything  more  foolish  than  the  policy 
of  rushing  the  entire  crop  upon  an  unwilling  mar- 
ket in  the  ninety  days  of  the  ginning  season,  it  is 
the  way  we  handle  the  little  cotton  we  decide  not  to 
sell  during  these  ninety  days.    It  has  been  said — 


COTTON  63 

and  with  too  much  tiTith — that  the  average  farmer 
takes  no  more  care  of  his  baled  cotton  than  if  it  were 
a  grindstone.  "But,"  said  Mr.  J.  T.  Dargan,  of 
Atlanta,  at  the  New  Orleans  Cotton  Convention, 
"the  farmer  is  not  so  big  a  fool  as  you  think  in  leav- 
ing his  cotton  out  in  the  open  on  the  farm.  It  is  not 
only  safe  there  under  his  eye,  but,  if  it  rains  too 
much,  he  can  put  it  under  a  cheap  frame  shed  in- 
stead of  taking  it  to  town  to  pay  storage  charges 
to  the  warehouseman,  unless  he  can  get  more  bene- 
fits than  now  exist  with  the  average  cotton  ware- 
house. What  is  more  important  to  the  cotton 
grower  is,  he  has  long  since  knowTi  that  a  bale  of 
cotton  will  lose  some  ten  or  fifteen  pounds  by  drying 
out  if  stored  in  a  warehouse  in  comparison  to  when 
it  is  left  in  the  open  with  a  few  planks  under  it  to 
keep  it  out  of  the  mud.  Then,  again,  bright  sunny 
weather  as  a  rule  prevails  in  the  South  until  about 
Christmas,  by  which  time  most  of  the  cotton  grow- 
er's cotton  has  been  sold  to  the  spot  cotton  buyers 
into-^vn.  The  farmer  does  not  mean  to  act  fraudu- 
lently by  letting  his  cotton  remain  in  the  open  to 
absorb  moisture,  but  as  some  farmers  do  it,  others 
are  in  self-defense  compelled  to  follow  suit,  and  I 
don't  blame  him  for  it  at  all,  for  he  increases  there- 
by the  weight  of  his  cotton  and  saves  storage 
charges." 

This  assertion  of  Mr.  Dargan's,  however,  does 
not  affect  our  contention  as  to  the  folly  of  leaving 
cotton  out  in  the  weather;  it  only  shifts  the  folly 
from  the  farmer's  shoulders  to  those  of  the  buyer 
who  does  not  take  the  dampness  and  damage  into 
his  reckoning  when  buying  the  staple. 

More  and  more,  however,  buyers  are  now  coming 
to  an  appreciation  of  this  fact ;  and  the  advantages 


64  COTTON 

of  storing  cotton  in  dry  places  is  recognized  by  the 
payment  of  higher  prices — both  on  account  of  the 
better  fiber  and  on  account  of  the  fact  that  with  the 
dry  cotton  the  buyer  knows  he  is  purchasing  cotton, 
while  in  the  latter  case,  it  is  a  mixture  of  cotton  with 
an  eiVtra  quantity  of  moisture.  A  Charlotte  paper, 
we  believe,  recently  estimated  the  season's  loss  to 
its  farmers  by  reason  of  damaged  cotton  at  $25,000 
— and  this  on  a  comparatively  small  market. 


NOT  A  LOW  PRICE,  BUT  A  STABLE  PRICE,  NEEDED  BY 
THE    MANUFACTURER 

The  organization  of  cotton  farmers,  there- 
fore, means  chiefly  a  better  regulated  acreage  and  a 
better  regulated  system  of  marketing;  and  greater 
stability  in  prices  is  the  chief  good  to  be  derived 
from  each  of  these.  To  have  cotton  prices  ranging 
from  five  to  fifteen  cents  in  a  decade,  is  manifestly 
demoralizing  to  every  interest  dependent  upon  the 
staple;  a  uniform  price  of  ten  cents  would  be 
vastly  more  helpful  to  all  of  them.  To  the  cotton 
manufacturer  it  matters  little  whether  the  prices 
are  high  or  low ;  his  profits  are  perhaps  greater  when 
cotton  is  fairly  high.  But  what  he  does  need  is  a 
fairly  stable  price  so  that  he  may  take  an  order  for 
manufactured  goods  months  ahead  with  some  idea 
as  to  what  price  he  must  ask  in  order  to  have  a 
fair  margin  of  profit.  With  the  price  of  raw 
material  ranging  from  seven  to  seventeen  cents  in 
eight  months,  as  we  have  seen  that  it  actually  did 
a  short  time  ago,  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  make 
such  an  advance  calculation  with  any  degree  of 
accuracy. 


THE   WORLD  S   ANNUAL    COTTON    CONSUMPTION. 


Countries. 

Great  Britain 

Continent 

Total,  Europe. 


Total,  United  States. 


Total,  India,  etc. 
Other  countries,  etc.  . 


Total,  world  , 
Average,  weekly  . , 


lfl04-05. 

Bales. 
3,588,000 
5,148,000 


1903-04. 
Bales. 
3,017,000 
5,148,000 


1,244,992 
516,000 
88,534 
55,500 


1,322,608 
566,644 
117,614 
59,215 


1,383,790 
726,454 
117,3*4 
31,524 


2,259,152 
29,424 


WORLDS    CONSUMPTION     OF    COTTON. 


CONSU.MPTION 

oOO-pound  Bales 

000s  omitted 


«M 


United  States 


8S4-85. . 
885-86.. 
886-87. . 
887-88.. 


3,073 
3,016 
3,227 


2,772 
2,912 
3.037 


5,674 
5,867 
6,110 
6,272 


2,024 
2,148 
2,185 


Average  6  years. 
1890-91 


1899-00. . 
1900-01.. 
1901-02  . 


Average  6  years. 


1902-03. . 
1903-04* 

1904-05*  , 


3,224 
3,432 
3,519 
3,334 


3,185 
3,017 
3,588 


3,619 
3,661 
3,827 


4,784 
4,576 
4,576 


1,941 

2,367 
2,576 
2,551 
2,264 
2,743 
2,572 


i,812 

i,:r6 

1,808 
2,244 


2,048 
2,001 
2,194 


3,553 

3,856 
3,727 


1,967 
1,907 
2,116 


4,015 
3,908 
4,310 


12,888 
14,015 
13,773 
13,416 
14,415 


14,437 

14,010 
15,506 


COTTON    STATISTICS. 

(Courtesy  of  Latham,    .\lexan(ler   &   Co.  ) 


COTTON  65 

CONSERVATISM  IN  COTTON  ASSOCIATION  DEMANDS 

On  the  whole,  the  cotton  farmers'  organization 
does  not  seem  incKned  to  be  unreasonable  in  its 
demands.  Attending  its  meetings,  we  have  been 
most  impressed  by  the  marked  conservatism  of  its 
members  generally.  President  Harvie  Jordan  is 
on  record  as  saying: 

"It  will  be  the  part  of  wisdom  for  all  cotton 
producers  to  discourage  speculative  interests  that 
would  tend  to  drive  the  price  of  spot  cotton  above 
twelve  cents  a  pound,  just  as  it  is  imperative  that 
no  farmer  should  ever  again  sell  a  pound  of 
middling  cotton  under  ten  cents  per  pound.  Let 
us  not  encourage  inflated  prices  that  will  hamper 
the  mills,  curtail  consumption  of  cotton,  and  en- 
courage the  growth  of  this  staple  in  foreign  fields. 
We  hold  a  complete  monopoly  of  the  cotton  indus- 
try of  the  world  up  to  twelve  cents  a  pound,  and  at 
that  price  good  profits  to  the  producer  can  be 
realized." 

This  quotation  may  seem  to  be  at  a  variance 
with  Mr.  Jordan's  advice  late  in  1905,  urging 
farmers  to  hold  the  remainder  of  their  crop  for 
fifteen  cents,  but  Mr.  Jordan  declares  that  he  was 
consistent  in  that  the  average  price  for  the  entire 
crop  would  still  have  been  less  than  twelve  cents, 
and  this  on  a  short  crop. 

REDUCING  PRODUCTION  OR  INCREASING  DEMAND  ? 

Another  way  in  which  the  South's  cotton  growers 
may  accomplish  much  good  for  themselves  through 
organization,  is  by  working  together  to  develop  our 
foreign  markets.  Civilization  demands,  as  we 
have  seen,  that  the  world  consume  42,000,000  bales 


66  COTTON 

of  cotton.  The  prices  of  wool  and  silk  are  prohibi- 
tive. Only  cotton  can  fill  the  requirements  of 
cheapness,  and  the  world  is  yet  only  half  clothed. 
Says  Lieut.  Richmond  Pearson  Hobson: 

"I  have  had  a  great  many  Chinamen  who  worked 
under  my  directions,  and  whose  work  I  inspected 
from  day  to  day,  while  they  were  building  gun- 
boats, and  if  they  were  doing  that  work  for  you,  I 
would  judge  the  wages  of  such  hard-working  men 
to  be  about  forty  to  fifty  cents  a  day.  Now  I 
investigated  this  matter  thoroughly,  and  as  far 
as  I  could  get  any  information,  I  found  the  real 
wages  of  these  men  to  be  about  five  cents  a  day. 
Their  families  are  large,  and,  of  course,  they  can't 
afford  too  much  for  food,  clothing  or  anything  else; 
and  what  is  the  result?  The  average  Chinaman 
wears  about  half  a  suit  of  clothes.  They  are  cotton, 
for  they  don't  wear  silk  over  there.  It's  a  mistake 
to  say  it  is  silk,  for  only  the  Mandarins  can  wear 
silk.  Now  there  were  many  of  these  coolies, 
who  would  come  down  from  the  interior,  whom 
I  saw  working  on  these  gun-boats,  and  pretty 
soon  I  would  see  one  come  down  with  a  whole  suit 
on.  That  wasn't  all.  It  got  a  little  colder,  and  I 
found  that  same  coolie  before  long  would  come 
down  with  two  suits  of  clothes  on,  the  second 
pulled  over  the  first.  Later,  he  would  come  down 
with  three,  four,  five,  six  and  seven,  the  last  suit 
(the  sixth  or  the  seventh)  made  of  cotton,  so  that 
when  you  saw  him  coming  down  the  street,  he  looked 
like  a  walking  cotton  bale." 

When  China  wakes  up,  therefore,  we  are  likely 
to  find  an  enormously  increased  demand  for  our 
cotton  crop  in  this  one  country.  Properly  civi- 
lized, China  alone,  says  Lieut.  Hobson,  with  its 
430,000,000  people,  would  consume  the  present 


COTTON  67 

cotton  crop  of  the  world.  Or  to  put  it  more 
forcefully,  we  may  quote  the  now  famous  remark 
of  Mr.  Wu  Ting  Fang  to  Senator  McLaurin  of 
South  Carolina:  "If  my  people  wore  cotton  like 
they  do  in  America,  and  every  Chinaman  should 
add  one  inch  to  his  shirt  it  would  consume  the 
entire  cotton  crop  of  the  South. " 

And  China  is  not  the  only  country  where  there 
are  vast  opportunities  for  increasing  our  cotton 
trade.  We  should  decrease  our  cotton  supply, 
when  it  becomes  necessary,  but  a  worthier  task 
is  to  try  to  increase  the  demand,  and  thereby  help 
civilize  and  uplift  other  nations  as  well  as  benefit 
ourselves. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


STOPPING     THE     LEAKS     IN     COTTON     PROFITS 

It  is  not  true,  as  a  distinguished  authority  has 
charged,  that  our  general  methods  of  growing  and 
handhng  cotton  are  "as  bad  as  can  be;"  but  it  is 
true  that  they  are  susceptible  of  vast  improvement, 
and  that  enormous  leaks  in  cotton  profits  are  yet 
to  be  stopped.  Perhaps  the  most  serious  menace 
to  cotton  farming  at  this  time  is  the  boll  weevil, 
but  as  that  subject  is  reserved  for  a  later  chapter,  1 
shall  not  discuss  it  here. 

One  of  the  greatest  leaks  that  any  industry  has 
ever  known  was  the  utter  waste  of  cottonseed  for  a 
hundred  years.  Cottonseed  used  to  be  regarded 
as  of  so  little  use,  in  fact  so  much  in  the  way,  that 
cotton  gins  within  the  last  two  generations  have 
been  built  over  streams  in  order  that  the  seed 
might  be  easily  washed  away!  In  some  States 
laws  have  actually  been  passed  requiring  ginners, 
for  the  sake  of  the  public  health,  to  remove  the 
rotting  piles  of  waste  seed ! 

$100,000,000    FROM    A     PRODUCT    ONCE    THOUGHT 
WORSE  THAN  WORTHLESS 

Now  the  raw  cottonseed  are  worth  nearly  $100, 
000,000,  or  about  one-fifth  the  value  of  the  cotton 

(GS) 


COTTON  69 

crop,  and  so  rapidly  are  we  finding  new  uses  for 
them — all  of  which  will  be  considered  at  greater 
length  in  other  chapters  in  this  book — that  Mr. 
Edward  Atkinson  was  probably  not  far  wrong 
when  he  declared  that  it  would  be  worth  while  for 
the  South  to  grow  great  crops  of  cotton,  even  if  the 
plant  made  no  lint  at  all  but  seed  only.  How 
varied  are  the  uses  of  cottonseed — meal,  oil,  hulls 
and  linters — has  been  suggested  in  the  Introduction 
to  this  volume. 

The  great  trouble  is  that  in  the  new  awakening 
to  the  enormous  value  of  cottonseed  as  a  fertilizer, 
we  have  not  yet  come  to  a  proper  appreciation  of 
their  value  as  a  feed  also;  for,  in  fact,  we  may 
feed  them  and  still  get  three-fourths  of  their  fertil- 
izing value  in  the  manure  from  the  animals.  How 
unusually  nutritious  they  are  as  a  food  may  be 
guessed  from  the  fact  that  for  feeding  purposes 
100  pounds  of  cottonseed  equals  in  value  116 
pounds  corn,  and  100  pounds  cottonseed  meal 
equals  175  pounds  corn.  Cottonseed  at  25  cents 
a  bushel  or  cottonseed  meal  at  $25  a  ton  is  as 
cheap  as  corn  at  40  cents  a  bushel. 

The  folly,  therefore,  of  burying  this  most  val- 
uable of  cattle  feeds — burying  it  unused  to  rot  in 
the  soil — must  be  apparent  to  all.  What  should 
we  think  of  using  wheat  bran  or  corn  meal  as  a 
fertilizer  for  cotton  without  first  having  our  live 
stock  extract  its  feeding  value  .^  Yet  in  the  one 
State  in  which  the  authors  live,  about  $3,000,000 
worth  of  cottonseed  meal  is  used  as  a  fertilizer— 
which  means  that  $2,500,000  in  feeding  values 
goes  to  nothing,  and  is  a  dead  loss  to  our  agricul- 
tural interests. 


70  COTTON 

FEEDING  VALUE  OF  COTTONSEED  NOT  YET 
APPRECIATED 

Moreover,  we  are  learning  more  and  more  each 
year  of  the  feeding  values  of  cottonseed  meal — 
learning  how  to  combine  it  with  other  feeds  and 
feed  in  larger  proportions  to  different  classes  of 
stock.  In  fact,  its  use  as  a  human  food  has  been 
seriously  contemplated,  a  thoughtful  journal  re- 
cently declaring  that  "if  cotton  grew  in  Michigan, 
Battle  Creek  would  be  marketing  a  hundred 
thousand  tons  of  the  cottonseed  meal  mixed  with 
wheat  flour  and  put  up  in  pound  packages .  It  would 
be  advertised,  and  with  truth,  as  the  only  complete 
ration  for  the  human  race.  A  pound  of  cottonseed 
meal  contains  all  the  elements  necessary  for  whole- 
some, nutritious  bread;  it  contains  three  times  as 
much  digestible  protein  as  the  highest  grade  of 
wheat  flour  or  the  best  oatmeal;  it  contains  twice 
as  much  oil  as  oatmeal  and  ten  times  as  much  oil 
as  wheat  flour." 

Whether  or  not  we  shall  ever  have  cottonseed 
meal  breakfast  food,  the  fact  remains  that  in  using 
it  as  a  fertilizer  we  are  wasting  millions  in  animal 
feeding  values  every  year — and  this  is  one  great 
leak  in  cotton  profits  we  shall  eventually  learn  to 
stop. 

WASTEFUL  TO   BUY    NITROGENOUS    FERTILIZERS 

We  are  also  wasting  millions  of  dollars  for  the 
purchase  of  nitrogenous  fertilizers,  when  the  cow 
pea  might  be  made  to  keep  our  Southern  soils 
abundantly  supplied  with  this  most  costly  of  all 
fertilizing  ingredients.  Making  a  rough  guess  we 
should  say  that  the  farmers  in  the  Carolinas  and 


COTTON  71 

Georgia  spend  at  least  $8,000,000  a  year  for 
commercial  nitrogen,  when  a  proper  system  of 
rotation,  including  leguminous  crops,  would  abun- 
dantly supply  the  soil  with  this  ingredient. 

And  this  is  Leak  No.  2  which  we  can  stop  and 
thereby  transfer  millions  to  the  credit  side  of 
King   Cotton's   ledger. 

THE  BARBAROUS  SAW  GIN  DESTROYS  MILLIONS  IN 
COTTON  VALUES 

There  has  been  no  noteworthy  improvement  in 
the  cotton  gin  since  the  new-born  idea  was  first 
worked  out  by  Eli  Whitney;  and  our  baling  methods 
are  also  notoriously  inefiicient.  *'  It  is  contended,' ' 
says  Mr.  Thomas  P.  Grasty,  "that  the  saw  gin 
actually  wastes  or  destroys  over  6  per  cent,  of  all  the 
cotton  raised  in  the  Southern  States — meaning  the 
destruction  each  year  of  nearly  $40,000,000  worth 
of  property  belonging  to  the  farmers  of  the  South. " 
By  its  rough  handling  it  is  also  asserted  by  the 
highest  authorities,  that  the  saw  gin  destroys  over 
40  per  cent,  of  the  initial  strength  of  the  cotton 
fiber.  No  wonder  one  of  our  American  cotton 
specialists  is  on  record  as  declaring  cotton  to  be 
"the  most  barbarously  handled  commercial  prod- 
uct in  the  world."  Besides  the  waste,  the  de- 
struction of  fiber,  and  the  lack  of  uniformity  in 
size  of  bales,  gins  at  present  are  able  to  pack 
cotton  at  the  average    density   of  only  fourteen 

f)ounds  per  cubic  foot.  Every  bale  not  sold  to 
ocal  mills,  therefore,  must  be  sent  to  some  cotton 
compress  and  the  size  reduced  two-thirds  before 
it  can  be  exported. 

A  fortune  awaits  the  man  who  will  invent  a 
compress  requiring  small  horse  power,  so  that  the 


72  COTTON 

bales  with  one  handling  at  the  gin  may  be  com- 
pressed tightly  enough  for  export  purposes;  just 
as  a  fortune  awaits  the  man  who  will  invent  a 
roller  gin  for  upland  cotton  or  any  other  econom- 
ical plan  by  which  the  present  wastes  and  the 
barbarous  laceration  of  the  fiber  may  be  obviated. 
With  American  inventive  talent  put  to  this  task, 
we  may  hope  before  many  years  to  stop  this  drain 
on  the  wealth  of  the  cotton  farmer. 

MARKETING  AND    EXPORTING    THE    CROP 

Another  waste  in  former  days  was  in  marketing 
the  crop,  but  here  there  has  been  in  recent  years  a 
marvellous  gain  in  directness  and  economy.  For- 
merly the  farmer  sold  to  his  merchant  at  the  county 
seat;  the  merchant  at  the  county  seat  sold  to  the 
commission  merchant  at  the  State  capital;  the 
commission  merchant  sold  to  the  dealer  at  the 
seaport;  the  seaport  dealer  sold  to  the  New  York 
exporter;  the  New  York  exporter  sold  to  Liverpool, 
and  Liverpool  sold  to  Manchester.  Now  all  this 
is  changed — ^liow  greatly  changed  will  be  seen  from 
the  report  of  a  cotton  exporting  house  which 
handles  more  than  300,000  bales  each  season. 
"The  cotton  is  now  bought  on  the  plantations  or 
at  the  railway  stations  throughout  the  whole 
Cotton  Belt  by  the  representatives  of  large  exporting 
houses  and  by  the  mills,"  said  the  manager  of  this 
house  to  us  the  other  day.  "Our  firm  employs 
more  than  100  buyers  for  this  purpose,  and  the 
cotton  is  shipped  daily  to  the  port  where  it  is 
expeditiously  sampled,  classified,  weighed,  com- 
pressed and  loaded  upon  ships  for  foreign  ports 
with  almost  incredible  swiftness.  We  have  had  a 
train  loaded  with  cotton  fifty  miles  from  port  at 
7  a.m.,  and  at  7  p.m.  of  the  same  day  it  has  been 


SUUTIIERN  VIEWS. 
Good  roads  make  cotton  transportation  easy;  the  second  picture  indicates  the 
negro's  easy  habits;  the  third  view  is  that  of  a  typical  old-fashioned  Southern  "Big- 
house." 


MORE  SCENES  FROM  DIXIE. 

The  patient  ox  has  not  been  entirely  discarded,  as  the  top  picture  testifies;  the 
second  is  a  warehouse  view. 


COTTON  73 

stored  on  board  a  foreign  ship  and  bills  of  exchange 
drawn  and  negotiated!" 

In  view  of  these  facts  we  may  regard  this  leak  in 
the  export  trade  as  belonging  to  the  past  rather 
than  to  the  present. 

SHIPPING  60%  OF  OUR  COTTON  TO  EUROPE 

Lastly  we  come  to  what  is  perhaps  the  greatest 
leak  of  all — ^not  to  the  cotton  farmer  solely,  but  to 
the  Cotton  Belt.  We  are  still  shipping  60  per  cent, 
of  our  cotton  to  Europe — almost  as  uneconomic, 
as  has  been  said,  as  it  would  be  to  ship  our  iron  ore 
instead  of  turning  it  into  the  finished  product  here. 

And  in  view  of  the  leaks  we  are  to  stop  and  the 
great  resultant  savings  that  are  to  enrich  the  South, 
and  in  view  of  the  prospective  remedying  of  this 
last  great  leak,  we  cannot  better  conclude  this 
chapter  than  by  quoting  an  extract  from  an  address 
by  Mr.  Richard  H.  Edmonds,  of  the  Manufac- 
turer's Record,  delivered  in  New  York  City  a  few 
months  ago — not  a  mere  day  dream,  a  flight  of 
fancy,  but  a  prediction  of  what  actually  bids  fair  to 
come  to  pass  within  the  lifetime  of  most  of  those 
who  read  this  article: 

"  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  South  will  ever 
manufacture  its  entire  cotton  production,  for,  when 
it  has  reached  the  point  where  it  consumes  in  its 
own  mills  the  10,500,000  bales  which  now  measure 
its  average  crop,  the  world  will  be  demanding  of 
it,  and  it  will  meet  the  world's  demands  for, 
probably  20,000,000  bales.  But  the  utilization  in 
its  own  mills  of  10,000,000  bales  would  mean  the 
employment  of  1,000,000  operatives,  the  invest- 
ment in  mills,  textile  machinery,  building  plants  and 
kindred  enterprises,  of  not  less  than  $2,000,000,000 


74  COTTON 

and  the  annual  output  would  be  worth  $2,000,- 
000,000. 

"Then,  indeed,  would  the  South,  without  mon- 
opolizing the  world's  cotton  manufacturing  in- 
terests, be  the  dominant  factor,  the  center  of  the 
world's  cotton  mill  business,  producing  20,000,000 
bales  and  consuming  at  home  in  its  own  mills 
10,000,000  bales. 

"  Both  will  come  about  in  due  time.  The  South 
sees  before  it  this  prize,  rich  beyond  words  to 
describe,  creating  wealth  beyond  anything  which 
this  section  or  any  other  section  has  known,  and 
this  is  the  prize — a  prize  great  enough  to  enrich  an 
empire — ^for  which  it  has  entered  the  race.  That 
it  will  win  admits  of  no  question." 


SECTION  II. 

THE  COTTON  PLANT— HOW  IT  GROWS 
AND'  IS   GROWN 


(75) 


CHAPTER   IX. 

STRUCTURE     AND     BOTANICAL     RELATIONS 

The  several  species  of  every  plant  or  animal 
known  to  man  have  been  properly  classified  and 
grouped.  It  has  required  untold  labor  and  pains 
through  years  and  centuries  to  make  this  important 
contribution  to  the  total  sum  of  knowledge,  but 
the  result  is  well  worth  the  effort  it  has  cost. 

A  discussion  of  the  causes  that  have  entered  into 
the  production  of  families,  species  and  varieties 
would  not  be  in  place  here,  but  some  of  them  are  so 
interesting  and  so  intimately  concerned  with  the 
development  and  improvement  of  the  cotton  plant 
as  to  make  it  necessary  to  consider  them  briefly. 

The  cotton  plant  is  a  member  of  the  Malvaceae 
or  mallow  family,  and  to  scientists  is  known  by 
the  generic  name  Gossypium.  The  plant  is  given 
to  much  variation,  and  a  very  large  number  of 
varieties  are  the  result.  Differences  in  soil,  in 
climate,  and  in  environment  have  been  the  primary 
factors  in  producing  these  variations. 

INFLUENCE    OF     HEREDITY 

In  the  perpetuation  of  any  plant  or  animal  the 
importance  of  heredity  is  recognized  by  all.  It  is, 
in  fact,  the  keeper  of  all  that  has  gone  before. 
Good  or  evil,  helpful  or  harmful,  its  influence  is  to 


78  COTTON 

hand  dov/n  to  the  future  race  all  the  life  of  the  past. 
Like  surely  begets  like.  Offspring  of  either  plant 
or  animal  inherit  the  essential  characteristics  that 
were  a  vital  part  of  the  parental  stock.  These 
inherited  characteristics,  however,  are  always  sub- 
ject to  change  as  a  result  of  change  in  environment. 

If  any  plant  or  animal  were  confined  to  a  par- 
ticular soil,  feeding  on  the  same  food,  and  with  un- 
varying climatic  conditions,  then  all  members  of 
the  tribe  or  species  would  grow  more  and  more 
similar  in  type,  form,  and  quality.  Only  in  non- 
essentials would  differences  appear. 

The  American  deer,  for  example,  grown  under 
the  same  conditions  of  habit,  food  and  climate,  for 
so  long  a  time,  has  developed  the  most  remarkable 
uniformity.  Only  the  most  careful  observer  is 
able  to  note  individual  peculiarities  of  form,  color, 
or  outline. 

Let  the  American  breeder  take  this  same  animal 
and  place  it  under  a  new  environment,  and  a  change 
will  be  noticed  very  early  in  his  breeding  operations. 
This  change  of  environment  gives  the  law  known 
as  variation  an  opportunity  to  show  its  power  and 
influence. 

The  cotton  plant  has  been  subjected  to  this 
change  in  environment.'  We  can  neither  tell  you 
when  nor  how  it  happened.  Mere  conjecture 
would  suggest  only  a  starting  point.  Still  the  fact 
remains  that  cotton  was  early  known  in  India, 
Egypt,  Corea,  China,  South  America,  and  the 
Lesser  Antilles.  How  the  plant  got  to  any  of  these 
countries  no  one  knows,  and  poseibly  no  one  will 
ever  know.  The  important  fact  is  this :  there  are 
great  differences  in  soil,  climate,  and  environment 
between  China  and  South  America,  between  India 
and  the  South  Sea  Islands,  between  Egypt  and 


COTTON  79 

China;  and  these  very  differences  have  given  rise 
to  the  many  kinds  and  varieties  of  cotton  we  know 
to-day. 

Besides  the  factors  above  considered  as  influen- 
cing the  tendency  to  variation,  the  cotton  plant 
responds  perhaps  more  freely  than  any  other  cul- 
tivated plant  to  ameliorated  conditions  of  soil, 
climate,  and  cultivation. 

THE    COTTON    PLANT 

To  understand  its  characteristics  you  must  know 
the  cotton  plant  itself.  Its  weed,  flower,  fiber,  seed 
and  growth  are  interesting — each  and  every  one. 

In  growth  the  stalk  assumes  a  herbaceous, 
shrubby,  or  tree-like  form.  None  but  these  her- 
baceous, shrub-like  forms  are  grown  to  any  extent 
in  this  country.  You  will  find  the  larger  and  tree- 
like varieties  grown  occasionally,  but  only  as 
curiosities,  since  with  them  the  low  mean  tem- 
perature of  the  Cotton  Belt  is  unfavorable  to  the 
production  of  lint  of  any  commercial  value. 

The  cotton  plant  of  the  Southern  States  is  a 
small  annual  shrub  from  two  to  four  feet  in  height, 
always  branching  extensively.  The  limbs  are 
longest  at  the  bottom  of  the  stalk,  and  short  and 
light  at  the  top,  this  top  growth  in  all  parts  of  the 
South  usually  being  arrested  by  frost.  The  flowers 
are  white,  or  pale  yellow  or  cream  colored  the  first 
day,  become  darker  and  redder  the  second  day,  and 
fall  to  the  ground  on  the  third  or  fourth  day,  leaving 
a  tiny  boll  developed  in  the  calyx.  This  boll 
develops  and  enlarges  until  maturity  when  it  is 
not  unlike  the  size  and  shape  of  a  hen's  egg. 
When  matured,  the  boll  cracks  and  opens  the  three 
to  six  apartments  which  hold  the  seed  and  the 


80  COTTON 

fibrous  wool  known  as  lint  that  is  now  to  be  gather 
ed,  ginned,  and  baled.     This  lint,  when  separated 
from  the  seed  becomes  the  cotton  of  commerce. 

COMMERCIAL   TYPES 

The  types  of  cotton  chiefly  known  in  a  com- 
mercial way  are  Gossypium  Barbadense  or  Sea 
Island  Cotton,  Gossypium  Herhaceum  or  Upland 
Cotton,  Gossypium  Hirsutum,  also  Upland  Cot- 
ton, Gossypium  Arboreum  or  Tree  Cotton,  and 
Gossypium  Neglectum  or  Indian  Cotton. 

SEA  ISLAND  COTTON  (Gossypium  Barbadense) 

This  species  is  one  of  the  most  important  grown 
and  is  cultivated  most  extensively  along  the  coast 
of  South  Carolina,  and  in  Georgia  and  Florida, 
and  the  off -lying  Islands. 

The  amount  of  lint  produced  is  less  than  from 
Upland  Cotton,  but  it  sells  for  a  higher  price  on 
account  of  its  longer  staple  and  better  quality. 

"Yarns  having  the  finest  counts,  as  they  are 
called,  are  all  spun  from  Sea  Island."  It  has  been 
shown  that  a  single  pound  of  Sea  Island  Cotton  can 
be  spun  into  a  thread  160  miles  in  length.  The 
acreage  devoted  to  this  species  is  small,  consequent- 
ly Sea  Island  Cotton  influences  the  market  yield 
but  little. 

UPLAND  COTTON  {Gossypium  Herbaceum) 

This  is  of  Asiatic  origin,  adapted  to  upland,  and 
has  its  botanical  name  from  the  character  of  its 
growth. 

India  is  supposed  to  be  the  original  home  of  the 
herbaceous  type,  but  it  has  spread  extensively  until 
it  is  known  in  China,  Arabia,  Persia,  and  Africa. 


-^'-k^x^  0^-'^ 


.^-.:A 


-r..-J^- 


aa^ 


:^<^::S^v^ 


HOLDING  FOR  UETTEll  PRICES. 

Many  farmers  now  refuse  to  sell  in  the  rush  of  ginning  season,  but  store  and  hold 
in  the  nope  of  Rettinj;  better  prices.  Many  of  the  storage  warehouses  are  of  enor- 
mous capacity. 


COTTON  81 

The  vine  cotton  of  Cuba  belongs  to  this  species, 
and  is  pecuKar  because  of  its  large  pods  and  ex- 
cessive number  of  seeds.  The  Long  Staple  Upland 
Cotton  grown  in  America  belongs  to  this  species. 

UPLAND  COTTON  (Gossj/jdum  Hirsutum) 

The  hairy  nature  of  every  part  of  the  plant  gives 
this  species  its  name. 

It  is  not  greatly  different  from  the  Sea  Island 
group  of  cotton;  in  fact  it  is  claimed  by  some  to  be 
an  offspring  of  the  Sea  Island.  Generally  thought 
to  have  originated  in  Mexico,  it  has  now  been  car- 
ried to  all  parts  of  the  world.  In  a  sense  it  is  a 
Short  Staple  Upland  Cotton,  and  to  this  species 
belong  nearly  all  the  American  types. 

TREE  COTTON    (Gossijpium  Arboretum) 

Its  tall-growing  and  tree-like  proportions  sug- 
gested the  name  for  this  India-bred  species.  In 
height  it  is  often  as  much  as  twenty  feet.  The 
fiber  is  short  and  fine,  and  clings  very  tenaciously 
to  the  seeds. 

No  varieties  of  this  kind  are  grown  on  this  con- 
tinent for  commercial  purposes,  and  not  even  in 
India,  where  it  is  principally  cultivated,  is  it  a  very 
valuable  type  of  cotton.  There  it  is  said  to  be 
perennial,  lasting  five  or  six  years  or  more,  and  is 
never  used  as  a  field  crop. 

INDIAN  OR  BUSH   COTTON  {Gossypium  N eglcctum) 

This  species  is  also  indigenous  to  India  where  it 
is  extensively  grown  as  a  field  crop.     The  boll  is 


82  COTTON 

small  in  size  and  contains  only  a  small  number  of 
seeds. 

It  is  said  that  the  beautiful  Dacca  Cotton,  from 
which  the  famous  muslins  are  made,  is  of  the 
Neglectum  type,  and  so  are  the  varieties  from 
which  the  long  cloth  of  Madras  is  manufactured. 

THE    COTTON    FIBER 

The  commercial  grading  of  cotton  depends  al- 
most entirely  on  the  ripeness,  length,  and  fineness 
of  the  cotton  fiber.  The  long,  fine,  silky  fibers  of 
the  Sea  Island  varieties  command  the  highest  price, 
while  the  native  Indian  and  Short  Upland  staple  of 
America  represent  the  lowest  market  values. 

The  following  table  arranged  by  Evans  shows 
the  average  length  and  average  diameter  of  the 
staple  of  some  of  our  best  known  varieties : 

LENGTH     AND     DIAMETER      OF     PRINCIPAL     COTTON 
FIBERS 

Av.  Length  Av.  Diam. 

Variety  of  Staple  of  Staple 

Sea  Island 1.61  .  000640 

New  Orleans 1.02  .000775 

Texas 1 .00  .000763 

Upland 93  .000763 

Egyptian 1.41  .  000655 

Native  Indian    89  .  000844 

You  will  see  in  glancing  at  the  above  table  that 
the  longer  the  staple  the  less  is  its  diameter,  a  fact 
which  must  always  be  kept  in  mind  in  any  ex- 
periments looking  to  the  selection  and  improve- 
ment of  the  cotton  plant. 


COTTON  83 

When  the  cotton  fiber  reaches  maturity  it  as- 
sumes a  tubelike  appearance,  somewhat  irregular 
and  flattened. 

Three  classes  of  fibers  are  always  found  in  every 
picking — unripe,  half-ripe,  and  ripe.  Of  course 
the  time  of  picking  influences  the  relative  percent- 
ages of  each,  though  late  picking  of  seed  cotton  will 
not  entirely  overcome  the  difficulty,  since  these 
three  are  differences  in  maturity  of  the  filaments 
on  different  parts  of  the  same  seed. 

Unripe  cotton  is  thin  and  transparent,  has  little 
or  no  twist,  and  has  little  use  in  manufacture. 
This  explains  why  cotton  picked  too  early  com- 
mands a  lower  price  at  the  warehouse. 

THE    COTTON    BOLL 

The  boll  is  the  house  of  seed  and  lint.  In  it  are 
from  three  to  five  apartments  or  cells  (often  more 
than  five  in  improved  types)  which  hold  the  com- 
mercial product  from  the  earliest  formation  of  the 
lint  after  blooming  until  it  is  picked  in  the  fall. 

As  the  seed  and  lint  increase  in  size  and  quantity, 
the  boll  likewise  enlarges  to  accommodate  its  grow- 
ing interior.  When  maturity  is  reached  the 
doors  of  the  apartment  rooms  open,  lint  and  seed 
expand,  and  present  the  beautiful  white,  silky 
wool  that  is  soon  to  be  gathered  and  stored. 

It  is  a  picture  indeed,  the  full  cotton  field,  white 
with  its  open  bolls  and  ready  for  the  harvest  hands. 
The  plant  and  the  planters  have  almost  ended 
their  work,  and  the  world  now  awaits  the  result 
not  without  interest.  The  pickers  are  in  the  field, 
early  and  late,  gathering  the  white  "tree  wool"  as 
fast  as  their  hands  can  pluck  it  from  the  bolls. 
Here  and  there  all  about  the  picked  territory,  are 


84  COTTON 

seen  the  snowy  piles  of  gathered  product,  ready  for 
the  owner  to  weigh  and  store  in  some  sheltered 
place.  Cotton  picking  time  has  come  again,  and 
spinners  and  consumers  in  every  quarter  of  the 
earth  listen  with  eagerness  for  news  of  the  South's 
great  annual  harvest! 


CHAPTER  X. 

VARIETIES   OF  COTTON   AND  THEIR  CLASSIFICATION 

In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  discussed  the 
tendency  of  all  plants  and  animals  to  vary  from 
normal  characteristics  when  removed  to  new  fields, 
different  climates,  and  changed  conditions  of 
environment.  The  cotton  plant  is  especially  sus- 
ceptible to  all  influences,  to  such  an  extent,  in  fact, 
that  in  our  country  alone  there  are  now  more  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  varieties  listed.  Of  course 
not  all  of  these  are  true  varieties.  Often  a  variety 
will  have  one  or  more  names  even  in  the  same 
territory.  This  state  of  affairs  is  confusing  and 
undesirable,  but  it  is  not  peculiar  to  the  cotton 
crop.  With  corn  and  wheat,  in  fact  with  all  the 
prominent  crops  grown  in  America,  we  have  the 
same  diflSculty,  the  same  multiplicity  of  names. 

This  condition  usually  arises  from  the  fact  that 
a  new  character,  differing  from  the  normal,  is 
seen  in  the  plant,  leading  the  grower  to  think  that 
he  is  justified  in  giving  the  variety  a  new  name. 
With  the  cotton  plant  the  change  may  lie  in  the 
direction  of  increased  length  and  fineness  of  fiber; 
increased  yield  of  lint,  or  seed,  or  both;  early  or 
late  maturing  qualities;  a  superior  character  in 
boll,  or  a  change  in  physical  growth.  Still  it 
matters  not  how  superior  a  new  character  may  be, 
a  local  name  is  not  justified  until  that  special 


86  COTTON 

feature  is  fixed  as  a  different  characteristic  of  this 
species  in  the  cotton  race.  When  that  fact  has 
been  established  it  is  altogether  proper  for  the  new 
variety  to  have  a  new  name,  just  as  we  should  give 
a  new  name  to  a  new  kind  of  apple. 

A    SIMPLE    CLASSIFICATION 

The  simplest  classification  of  Upland  varieties 
that  we  have  seen  has  been  made  by  Professor 
Duggar  of  Alabama.  He  makes  seven  distinct 
groups   as   follows: 

1.  Cluster,  or  Dickson  Type. 

2.  Semi-Cluster,  or  Peerless  Type. 

3.  Rio  Grande,  or  Peterkin  Type. 

4.  Short  Limb,  or  King  Type. 

5.  Big  Boll,  or  Duncan  Type. 

6.  Long  Limb  Upland,  or  Petit  Gulf  Type. 

7.  Long  Staple  Upland,  or  Allen  Type. 
Such  a  grouping  as  this  enables  us  to  place  a 

given  variety  as  readily  as  we  class  horses  into 
draft,  coach,  or  roadster  types.  General  charac- 
teristics in  this  manner  may  be  readily  fixed 
without  confusion  or  difficulty. 

GROUPS    OF    COTTON 

Following  the  classification  of  cotton  into  these 
seven  groups  we  find  characteristics  more  or  less 
peculiar  to  each.  Of  course  it  is  not  to  be  expected 
that  classification  will  provide  for  striking  lines  of 
demarcation  for  every  variety.  It  does  not  do  this 
for  horses.  The  heavy  coach  horse  blends  into 
the  type  of  the  light  draft  on  one  hand  and  into  the 
roadster  on  the  other.  So  we  should  expect  some 
varieties  of  one  group  of  cotton  to  merge  into 


COTTON  87 

another  group  by  imperceptible  gradation.  But 
in  a  general  way  the  several  types  may  be  described 
as  follows: 

I.       CLUSTER DICKSON   TYPE 

No  long  limbs  at  base;  bolls  tend  to  grow  m 
clusters;  plants  tall,  slender,  and  erect;  base  limbs 
often  long;  and  seed  usually  small;  seed  covered 
with  thick  fuzz,  usually  white  in  color;  early 
maturing;  percentage  of  lint  from  32  to  34. 

Important   Varieties  of  Group: 

Dickson  Jackson 

Wellborn  Wellborn*s  Pet 

Jackson's   Limbless 


II.       SEMI-CLUSTER PEERLESS     TYPE 

Base  limbs  of  medium  length,  and  above  these 
along  main  stem  are  very  short  limbs;  stalk  erect; 
bolls  more  or  less  in  clusters ;  seed  of  medium  size, 
well  covered  with  fuzz  which  may  be  whitish, 
greenish  or  brownish;  early  to  medium  maturing; 
percentage  of  lint  from  29  to  35. 

Important  Varieties  of  Group: 


Peerless 

Hawkins'  Prolific 

Boyd 

Hawkins'  Jumbo 

Cummings 

Herndon 

Drake 

Herndon's  Select 

Deering 

Minor 

Norris 

Tyler 

88  COTTON 

III.       RIO    GRANDE PETERKIN    TYPE 

Plants  well  branched  and  medium  in  size;  bolls 
small;  seed  black,  quite  small  and  bare  of  fuzz 
except  at  tip  end;  medium  maturing;  percentage 
of  lint  large,  usually  35. 


Important  Varieties  of  Group: 

Peterkin  Texas  Wood 

Peterkin's  Limb  Cluster     Wise 
Excelsior  Texas  Oak 


IV.       SHORT    LIMB KING    TYPE 

Plants  small  and  well  branched  at  both  base  and 
top;  limbs  short;  bolls  small;  seed  medium  in  size 
and  thickly  covered  with  fuzz  of  brownish  (and 
sometimes  of  greenish)  shade;  quite  early  maturing; 
percentage  of  lint  from  32  to  34. 


Important  Varieties  of  Group: 

King  King's  Improved  No.  1 

Lowry  King's  Improved  No.  2 


V.       BIG    BOLL DUNCAN    TYPE 

Plants  large,  heavy  and  strong;  well  limbed  at 
base,  but  upper  limbs  short;  bolls  very  large;  seeds 
large  and  covered  with  thick  fuzz,  whitish  in  color; 


CQTXOlSr  89 

late  maturing  generally;  percentage  of  lint  from 
29  to  34. 


Important  Varieties  of  Group: 

Duncan  Culpepper 

Banks  Culpepper's    Improved 

Christopher  Grayson 

Truitt  Russell 

Thrash  Lee 

Strickland  Lee's  Improved  No.  1 

Strickland's  Improved  Lee's  Improved  No.  2 

Coppedge  Scroggins 

VI.    LONG    LIMB    UPLAND — PETIT    GULF    TYPE 

Plants  very  large;  limbs  long  and  straggling; 
bolls  medium  in  size  and  covered  with  fuzz  of 
various  shades;  late  maturing;  percentage  of  lint 
30  to  32. 

Important  Varieties  of  Group: 

Petit  Gulf  Cheise 

Gunn  Ellis 

ElHs's  Big  Boll 

VII.    LONG  STAPLE  UPLAND — ^ALLEN  TYPE 

Plants  large  and  heavy  and  require  good  moist 
soil;  lower  limbs  very  long  and  open;  bolls  medium 
in  size,  but  long,  slender  and  tapering;  seed  medium 
to  large,  covered  with  whitish  tint  of  fuzz;  late 
maturing;  staple  long;  percentage  of  lint  from  25 
to  29. 


90  COTTON 

Important  Varieties  of  Group: 

Allen's  Improved  Doughty 

Allen's  Hybrid  Griffin 

Matthews  Cobweb 

Cook  Moon 

SELECTING    A    VARIETY 

You  must  exercise  care  and  judgment  in  select- 
ing a  variety  of  cotton  for  seed  purposes.  A 
variety  which  yields  well  in  one  place  may  not  do  so 
well  with  you  where  perhaps  it  may  have  a  differ- 
ent soil  and  climate.  A  variety  may  stand  at  the 
very  head  one  year  in  a  comparative  test  with  other 
varieties,  but  fall  toward  the  foot  the  very  next 
season.  Seasons  are  not  all  the  same,  and  they 
materially  affect  the  yield  of  the  same  variety  from 
year  to  year.  You  must  bear  this  fact  in  mind  and 
not  jump  at  conclusions  hastily. 

It  is  the  largest  quantity  of  seed  cotton  you  are 
seeking,  and  a  variety  that  yields  uniformly  well 
from  year  to  year  is  a  great  deal  better  than  a  spec- 
tacular one  that  shines  meteor-like  when  the 
season  is  just  right. 

An  honest,  average  yielder  is  always  safe  and  re- 
liable, and  can  be  improved  by  selection  and  care 
to  suit  your  soil  and  climate  and  environment.  In 
the  end,  too,  it  will  become  better  and  better  because 
it  has  had  time  to  adapt  itself  to  the  home  life  you 
have  provided  for  it.  It  will  reward  you  for  this 
attention  by  obeying  every  reasonable  demand  you 
make.  And  these  demands  you  have  in  mind 
should  include: 

(1)     A  longer  staple;  (2)  uniformity  in  length  of 


VARIETIES  OF  COTTON. 

(A)  Peerless  group;   (B)  Peterkin  Cotton;   (C)  Duncan  group;   The  Peterkin  is 
one  of  the  best  known  varieties;  the  Duncan  group  is  very  large  boiled. 


VARIETIES  OF  COTTON 

(A)  Dickson  type;  (B)  King  tyiie;  (C )  show:    ?eed  and  lint  of  Sea  Island  Cot- 
ton; (D)  Allen  Long  Staple;  (E)  Petit  Gulf. 


COTTON  91 

fiber;  (3)  strength  of  fiber;  (4)  a  greater  yield  in 
lint  and  seed. 

THE    STAPLE    SHOULD    BE    LONG 

If  you  examine  the  staple  in  several  bolls  of  any 
variety,  you  will  find  a  certain  degree  of  variation 
in  length.  We  all  know  that  the  longer  the  staple 
is,  the  better  price  we  get  for  it.  Hence,  every 
cotton  grower  should  endeavor  to  grow  a  longer 
staple.  This  can  be  done  by  going  into  the  field 
and  carefully  examining  bolls  of  the  most  promising 
appearance,  selecting  for  seed  purposes  such  as 
have  greater  length  of  staple  than  the  average. 
This  practice  should  be  followed  year  after  year, 
whatever  the  variety  you  are  growing. 

FIBERS  SHOULD   BE  OF  UNIFORM   LENGTH 

Cotton,  like  wool — indeed  like  any  fiber  of  com- 
mercial importance — is  graded  according  to  its 
evenness  and  uniformity  of  length.  And  this 
practice  of  grading  is  not  limited  to  fibers,  but  goes 
out  in  all  directions  and  includes  corn,  wheat,  and 
other  field  crops. 

Consequently  seed  cotton  should  be  so  selected 
that  the  tendency  to  produce  fibers  of  uniform 
length  may  be  bred  in  the  plant. 

FIBER   SHOULD    BE    STRONG 

Not  only  length,  but  strength  of  fiber  also,  is  a 
most  desirable  quality,  and  should  be  considered 
in  every  operation  that  pertains  to  the  improve- 
ment of  any  variety  of  cotton.  The  Sea  Island 
type  is  especially  noted  for  the  quality  of  strength, 


92  COTTON 

and  has  been  selected  after  years  of  careful  tests 
made  to  develop  a  variety  required  for  cloth  of 
durability  and  strength. 

RELATIVE    PERCENTAGE   OF    FIBER    SHOULD    BE 
LARGE 

An  essential  quality  for  every  variety  of  cotton  to 
possess  is  the  ability  to  produce  a  high  quantity  of 
lint  in  proportion  to  seed.  This  quality  is  funda- 
mental, for  lint  yield  is  usually  the  first  trait  con- 
sidered by  any  grower.  In  fact,  a  particular 
variety  is  selected,  as  a  rule,  because  of  the  claim 
that  it  is  a  heavy  yielder. 

Careful  attention,  then,  at  the  time  of  gathering 
and  selecting  seed — making  constant  effort  to 
improve  by  selecting  from  plants  with  this  tendency 
to  increase  the  yield — ^will  prove  one  of  the  most 
satisfactory  ways  of  adapting  the  variety  to  your 
environments,  and  of  rendering  it  reliable  as  the 
breed  for  your  special  purposes. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

BREEDING    UP    THE    COTTON    PLANT 

The  average  yield  of  cotton  in  the  United  States 
is  about  190  pounds  of  lint  to  the  acre.  At  ten 
cents  per  pound  the  gross  income  from  a  cotton 
crop  then,  is  only  $19.00  per  acre  plus  the  value 
of  seed.  This  is  certainly  none  too  much  when  you 
consider  the  cost  of  necessary  fertilizing  materials 
and  the  labor  involved  in  all  operations  from 
planting  to  marketing.  Now  to  increase  the  gross 
income,  but  two  ways  are  open  to  us:  either  (1) 
increase  the  market  price  for  raw  cotton  or  (2) 
increase  the  number  of  pounds  of  lint  and  seed  per 
acre. 

The  latter  seems  to  be  most  reasonable  from  an 
economic  standpoint.  Ten  cent  cotton,  under 
good   labor  and   crop    conditions,  is  an  equitable 

f)rice  to  both  producer  and  consumer.      A  price 
ess  than  ten  cents   is   unwise  because  it  means 
hard  living  for  growers  and  laborers. 

HOW    IMPROVEMENT   MAY   BE   BROUGHT    ABOUT 

The  problem  before  us  then  is  to  increase  the 
production  of  cotton  per  acre.  How  shall  this  be 
done  ? 

The  following  five  reforms  will  help : 

(1)  Improve  the  soil. 

(2)  Get  a  variety  suitable  to  your  environments. 


94  COTTON 

(3)  Use  improved  tools  and  implements  for  all 
operations. 

(4)  Manure  in  such  a  way  as  to  promote  the 
physical  improvement  of  the  soil. 

(5)  Use  seed  that  has  been  improved  by 
selection,  and  continue  the  selection  that  more 
improvement  may  follow. 

Let  us  discuss  the  last  named  suggestion  first, 
since  seed  stock  is  always  of  primary  importance. 

None  of  us  can  deny  the  influence  of  good 
breeding.  It  is  only  the  well  selected,  carefully 
bred  trotter  or  pacer  that  ever  makes  a  record  on 
any  race  track;  even  in  beef  for  our  tables,  a  scrub 
makes  a  tough,  insipid  product;  and  in  the  dairy, 
profit  comes  only  with  carefully  chosen  milk  cattle. 

Blood  tells  in  men,  in  animals,  in  plants.  It 
tells  in  cotton — in  yield  of  seed  and  lint;  in  length, 
in  strength,  in  all  other  desirable  features  of  the 
fiber. 

Not  to  select  seed  with  care  and  according  to 
some  definite  plan,  therefore,  is  wasteful,  costly, 
unprofitable. 

A    PROBLEM    FOR    THE    INDIVIDUAL    FARMER 

The  day  when  any  cotton  planter  can  afford  to 
plant  just  any  variety  of  any  sort  of  seed  has  truly 
passed.  Good  farm  management  in  cotton  grow- 
ing, as  in  any  kind  of  plant  or  animal  production, 
calls  for  the  use  of  good  seed  only,  seed  possessing 
qualities  desired  by  commerce,  and  the  ability 
to  display  these  qualities  under  the  individual 
grower's    special    soil,    climate,    and    conditions. 

But  to  get  best  results,  you  will  have  to  investi- 
gate for  yourself.  The  Agricultural  College  and 
Experiment   Station   can   determine  fundamental 


VARIETIES  OF  CO'FrON. 

(A,  B)  American  Upland,  Southern  types;    (C)  Sea  Island  (Long   Staple)  Cot- 
ton ;  (D)  Asiatic  Cotton. 


KCOXOMKAl.  AM)   EXPENSIVE   (  ()  r  1  o.\    .MAKING. 
The  first  picture  is  that  of  planting;  with  a  slow  ox-"free  ni<r«er  farming"  it  is 
ca,ie.l;  in  the  .second  picture  we  have  cost  of  cultivation  reduced  to  a  minimum  by 
improved  implements. 


COTTON  95 

facts  only.  Their  application  must  be  worked  out 
by  each  individual  planter  on  his  own  individual 
farm. 

Nor  is  this  difficult.  You  must  put  out  of  your 
mind  the  idea  that  seed  selection  is  costly,  or  that 
it  involves  unusual  labor.  An  axe  that  is  sharp- 
ened is  an  improved  axe;  a  plow  that  turns  a  deep 
furrow  and  pulverizes  the  soil  in  an  efficient 
manner  is  better  than  one  that  does  not;  a  hog  that 
reaches  maturity  on  a  given  amount  of  food  in 
nine  months  is  superior  to  one  of  any  breed  or 
class  which  uses  an  equal  amount  of  food  and 
requires  ten  months  for  maturity.  So  a  particular 
cotton  plant  which  shows  a  larger  number  of 
desirable  characteristics  than  other  stalks  under  the 
same  soil,  climate,  and  other  influences  is  an 
improved  specimen;  and  it  is  simple  waste,  as  has 
been  said,  not  to  use  its  powers  to  the  full  extent  in 
furnishing  seed  for  the  next  year's  crop. 

SEVEN   POINTS   OF   IMPROVEMENT 

But  what  are  desirable  qualities  to  be  sought  .^^ 
We  discussed  some  of  these  qualities  in  a  previous 
chapter.     There  are,  in  all,  the  following: 

(1 )  Better  yield  of  fiber 

(2)  Greater  length  of  staple 

(3)  More  uniformity  in  length 

(4)  Greater  strength  in  fiber 

(5)  Ability  to  resist  disease 

(6)  Increased  yield  in  seed 

(7)  Greater  effort  to  make  the  plant  at  home. 
These  characteristics  are  important,  all  of  them. 

They  must  be  kept  in  mind  with  every  effort  to 
improve  the  seed. 

And  next  we  have  only  to  remember  that  the 


96  COTTON 

laws  at  work  in  seed  production  are  the  same  as 
those  at  work  in  animal  breeding: — ^heredity  and 
variation. 

All  horses  have  some  characteristics  in  common; 
in  certain  respects  all  cattle  are  alike;  hogs  are 
never  confused  with  sheep ;  each  species  has  its  own 
special  characteristics;  birds  have  feathers,  bills, 
and  wings. 

Heredity  establishes  features  common  to  each 
class.  We  class  horses  into  breeds.  Some  are 
heavy-muscled,  short-limbed  and  strong.  They 
make  the  draft  breeds  and  appear  similar  in  form, 
type,  and  outline.  But  some  horses  are  long- 
limbed,  long  and  lithe  in  form  and  muscle,  and 
swift  in  speed.     They  form  the  roadster  type. 

Why  do  we  find  these  extreme  types  ?  The 
answer  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  have  been  bred  to 
do  special  work  and  have  acquired  distinct  charac- 
teristics that  they  may  do  that  work  more  easily. 
The  change  from  the  normal  form  or  type  began 
because  peculiarities  are  not  absolutely  fixed  or 
made  stable  by  heredity  except  along  essential 
lines,  and  even  these  are  subject  to  change. 

This  change  in  variation  is  quite  noticeable 
when  you  observe  minor  characteristics.  All  horses 
look  alike,  yet  no  two  horses  are  exactly  the  same. 
They  differ  in  a  hundred  ways.  So  with  plants. 
So  with  cotton. 

Varieties  of  cotton  are  similar  in  essentials.  The 
root,  the  stem,  the  leaf,  the  bloom,  the  boll,  the 
fiber,  the  seed,  are  not  to  be  mistaken.  You  may 
not  be  able  to  name  the  variety,  but  you  know  the 
plant.  In  all  varieties  of  cotton  these  character- 
istics are  similar,  and  you  are  not  deceived. 

The  variation  that  concerns  you  most  is  in  the 
amount  of  seed  or  lint,  the  length,  strength  and 


COTTON  97 

uniformity  of  staple — qualities  which  count  in  the 
market  place.  And  as  you  grow  cotton  for  the 
market  you  must  produce  what  the  market  de- 
mands. 

DO   ONE    THING   AT   A  TIME 

You  will  make  a  mistake  if  you  attempt  the 
improvement  of  your  cotton  in  all  directions  at  one 
time.  It  would  be  too  big  a  task  to  undertake, 
even  though  you  should  devote  your  whole  time 
to  the  work.  Work  in  one  direction,  therefore; 
the  one  most  important  to  you.  When  your  effort 
here  has  resulted  in  improvement  and  becomes 
fixed  and  stable,  begin  work  in  another  direction, 
but  on  the  stock  you  have  so  far  improved. 

Remember  it  does  not  require  money  or  much 
extra  labor  to  work  in  one  given  direction.  What 
you  do  expend  in  this  way  comes  back  to  you  with 
rewards  a  hundred  fold.  Set  yourself  to  improve 
your  cotton  in  one  particular  quality :  always  select 
plants  that  will  produce  most  of  marketable  lint 
and  seed.  This  you  can  readily  determine  by  a 
thorough  field  examination. 

HOW  TO   SELECT  SEED 

The  most  productive  plants  in  any  given  variety 
are  those  that  have  the  largest,  best-formed,  and 
most  numerous  bolls.  The  eye  will  readily  detect 
these  plants.  Select  one  hundred  of  the  choicest 
bolls  from  superior  plants  for  your  initial  work 
the  coming  season.  From  this  quantity  you  will 
secure  from  3,500  to  4,500  seed,  which  will  be 
sufficient  for  planting  a  seed  plot  of  at  least  a 
quarter  of  an  acre,  and  this  should  produce  some- 


98  COTTON 

thing  like  fifteen  bushels  of  seed  at  picking  time. 
This  quantity  in  turn  will  give  selected  seed  for 
fifteen  acres  the  following  year. 

Continue  to  select  one  hundred  of  the  choicest 
bolls  each  year  for  your  seed  plot  of  the  succeeding 
year. 

Such  a  system  of  seed  selection  should  be 
perpetually  practised  by  planters  throughout  the 
South,  and  should  of  course  improve  the  seed  stock 
to  a  high  degree,  greatly  increasing  the  productive- 
ness and  greatly  accentuating  all  the  desirable 
qualities  of  the  plant. 

THE   SEED   PLOT 

Locate  your  seed  plot  on  a  soil  offering  conditions 
similar  to  those  of  the  rest  of  your  cotton  area.  To 
locate  your  plot  on  a  sandy  soil,  for  example,  if 
the  main  crop  is  to  be  grown  on  a  rich,  heavy, 
clay  formation,  would  be  manifest  folly. 

Select  a  type  of  soil,  then,  like  that  on  which  the 
general  crop  is  to  be  cultivated,  but  enrich  it; 
for  you  will  get  the  best  and  most  vigorous  seed 
from  plants  well  nurtured  and  grown  under  most 
favorable  conditions.  You  will  make  no  mistake 
in  fertilizing  well  and  following  with  thorough 
cultivation  throughout  the  growing  season. 

STUDY    INDIVIDUAL    PLANTS 

By  a  study  of  individual  plants  you  can  carry 
the  selection  of  your  cotton  still  further.  No  two 
plants  are  alike  in  every  detail.  They  vary  in  a 
hundred  and  one  ways.  They  vary  in  their 
ability  to  transmit  superior  qualities  to  their 
progeny.     And  this  is  an  important  consideration. 


COTTON  99 

The  animal  breeder  calls  this  quality  pre- 
potency. It  represents  the  faculty  of  transmission 
of  parental  qualities  to  offspring.  Some  animals 
do  this  to  a  remarkable  degree.     Some  plants  do. 

Study  your  individual  cotton  plants  so  that  you 
may  know  which  plants  are  pre-potent  and  which 
ones  are  not.  Where  this  transmitting  power  is 
weak,  you  will  have  less  desirable  breeding  stock, 
and  this  you  should  discard.  Preserve  seed  from 
plants  only  that  are  able  to  propagate  their  in- 
dividual qualities  and  merits ;  otherwise  your  prog- 
ress will  be  slow. 

Now  as  to  the  best  way  of  putting  this  principle 
into  effect:  suppose  you  have  selected  one  hun- 
dred bolls  and  these  have  come  from  several  plants. 
You  can  label  the  seed  at  planting  time,  from  every 
boll,  or  at  least  those  from  particular  plants,  and 
determine  the  transmitting  power.  This  makes 
more  work,  but  it  greatly  facilitates  the  breeding 
operations. 

SELECTION    IS    NOT    SLOW 

Nor  is  the  selection  of  seed  a  slow  process  for 
increasing  yield  of  lint  and  seed.  Its  practice  will 
show  results  even  the  first  year.  A  good  farmer 
of  our  acquaintance  last  year  grew  cotton  at  the 
rate  of  one  thousand  pounds  of  seed  per  acre  from 
seed  of  three  years'  selection,  while  the  ordinary 
seed  under  the  same  conditions  as  to  soil,  fertilizers 
etc.,  produced  only  700  pounds  per  acre.  Similar- 
ly, in  your  field  in  any  growing  season  there  are 
doubtless  plants  which  will  yield  at  the  rate  of  five 
hundred  pounds  of  seed  cotton  per  acre;  others,  a 
thousand  pounds;  still  others  will  produce  at  the 
rate  of  fifteen  hundred  or  2500  pounds  of  seed 
cotton  per  acre. 


100  COTTON 

Why  this  difference  ? 

They  are  grown  on  the  same  soil;  moistened  by 
the  same  rains;  brightened  by  the  same  sunshine; 
they  have  enjoyed  the  same  tillage,  fertilization  and 
culture;  and  yet  they  differ  in  many  ways. 

The  solution  of  the  problem  is  heredity.  Like 
begets  like. 

We  expect  much  from  civilized  races  of  men; 
but  less  from  the  untrained,  the  child-like.  In  the 
vegetable  world  we  can  readily  apply  the  same 
principle.  We  will  not  use  for  seeding  purposes 
the  small  yielders,  the  little  doers. 

But  this  elimination  must  be  done  in  the  field 
at  picking  time.  We  can  do  no  mixing.  We  must 
secure  seed  from  the  superior  plants  and  keep  it 
separate  from  the  general  lot.  It  must  be  ginned 
separately,  too,  else  our  pains  and  labor  will  come 
to  naught. 

By  discarding  seed  from  poorly  producing 
plants,  and  securing  it  only  from  the  best,  the  pro- 
cess of  improvement  will  work  quickly  and  surely, 
and  will  reward  the  planter  even  more  liberally 
than  he  might  expect. 

This  means,  furthermore,  that  we  shall  abandon 
the  practice  of  getting  seed  for  planting  at  the  gin 
except  from  cotton  previously  gathered  from 
selected  plants  and  set  aside  for  planting  purposes. 

SELECT    MORE    THAN  ONE  PLANT 

The  plan  of  selecting  more  than  one  plant  for 
breeding  stock  is  a  good  one,  since  it  gives  you 
better  opportunity  for  the  study  of  the  transmitting 
power  of  each  individual ;  and  this  increased  num- 
ber of  plants  for  breeding  purposes  also  aids  you 
greatly  in  approaching  the  special  type  you  are 
endeavorinfr  to  evolve. 


§1 

O  .S 


O  3 
H  I 


COTTON  101 

A  plan  suggested  by  Dr.  Webber  of  the  U.  S. 
Department  of  Agriculture,  shows  the  simplicity 
of  breeding  cotton,  and  is  illustrated  in  the  diagram 
below: 


Ist  year 
End  year 

[3  (Inaividual  plant  first  SelecUil 
500  1 ^ 

—a 

dviyesLF 

5  Acres 

|500| .fTl 

V 

4tKyear 

General  crop 

*                       \ 

Dacres                |5oo| ,g 

\                   \                  T 

^                    \ 

5tK  year 

General  crop          ^^^^^^               |  ^^^ 

Diagram  Illustrating  Method  of  Selecting  Cotton 
PEDIGREED    STOCK 

The  Sea  Island  planters  on  the  islands  off  the 
coast  of  South  Carolina  follow  a  method  of  selec- 
tion almost  exactly  like  the  plan  advised  by  Dr. 
Webber. 

When  first  introduced  into  this  country  from  the 
West  Indies,  Sea  Island  cotton  was  a  perennial  and 
quite  unsuited  to  our  climatic  conditions.  A  plan 
of  selection,  faithfully  executed  with  the  purpose  of 
using  only  early-maturing  plants,  has  resulted  in 
making  the  Sea  Island  variety  thoroughly  at  home 
in  its  new  environments — so  much  so  that  to-day 
this  variety  stands  foremost  in  length  and  fineness 
of  staple. 

Cotton  bred  with  a  definite  purpose  in  the  breed- 
er's mind;  selected  from  year  to  year  because  of 


102  COTTON 

merit  and  worth;  adapted  to  soil,  climate,  and 
methods  of  fertilization  and  culture,  is  "highly 
bred"  cotton  in  name  and  in  fact,  and  in  every 
sense  is  pedigreed  stock. 

Such  strains  are  worth  many  times  their  cost, 
and  give  ample  reward  for  any  additional  labor 
that  needs  to  te  given  them. 

BREED  COTTON  TOWARD  AN  IDEAL 

The  animal  breeder  has  succeeded  in  producing 
marvelous  strains  of  various  classes  of  farm  animals. 
He  has  succeeded  because  he  worked  toward  an 
ideal.  Some  standard  of  excellence  is  no  less 
surely  needed  that  the  cotton  planter  may  be 
guided  in  the  improvement  of  his  crop. 

And  in  working  toward  such  an  ideal,  as  has  al- 
ready been  suggested,  those  traits  which  count  for 
much  in  the  sale  of  the  commercial  product,  must 
be  given  first  consideration.     Those  factors  are: 

An  abundance  of  bolls 

A  boll  of  large  size 

Heavy  yield  in  lint 

Fiber  of  good  length 

High  percentage  of  lint 

Fiber  that  is  fine 

Fiber  of  good  strength 

Fibers  uniform  in  length. 

With  these  factors  and  their  relative  importance 
in  mind  we  suggest  a  score  card  as  follows : 

A  PROPOSED  SCORE  CARD  FOR  COTTON 

(  Large,  15  points 
A.     Number  of  Bolls        <  Medium,  10  points 
15  points  ( Small,  5  points 


COTTON  103 

A  PROPOSED   SCORE    CARD    FOR   COTTON 

(Continued) 

r  Large,  15  points 

B.  Size  of  Boll  ^  Medium,  10  points 

15  points  (  Small,  5  points 

r  Heavy,  15  points 

C.  Yield  of  Lint  <  Medium,  10  points 

15  points  (Light,  5  points 


D.  Length  of  Fiber 

15  points 


2  inches,  15  points 
If  inch.,  12  points 
1^  inch.,  8  points 
1^  inch.,  5  points 


35,  15  points 
E.  Per  cent,  of  Lint  -I  30,  10  points 

15  points  [25,  5  points 

{Fine,  10  points 
Medium,  7  points 
Coarse,  5  points 

{Strong,  10  points 
Medium,  7  points 
Weak,  5  points 

(  Good,  5  points 
H.  Uniformity  in  Length  <  Medium,  3  points 
5  points  (Poor,  1  point 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    king's   realm,    THE   LAND    OF   SUNSHINE 

The  great  cotton  producing  section  of  the 
United  States  lies  a  little  below  latitude  37°.  This 
nearly  coincides  with  a  line  drawn  from  Norfolk, 
Virginia,  to  Cairo,  Illinois,  and  marks  the  northern 
limit  of  profitable  cotton  culture.  (Of  course,  the 
cooler  mountain  region  of  this  section  must  be 
eliminated.) 

Here  then  is  the  Cotton  Belt  of  America,  and 
to  this  region  the  world  looks  for  its  annual  supply 
of  raw  cotton.     New  areas,  favorable  to  cotton 

Production,  will  be  developed,  as  time  goes  on, 
ut  for  all  time  to  come  the  present  cotton -growing 
States  will  likely  furnish  the  greater  portion  of  the 
world's  needs. 

PECULIAR    CLIMATE    OF    THE     COTTON    BELT 

The  Cotton  Belt  has  a  somewhat  variable  climate. 
From  its  geographical  situation  it  is  naturally  of 
moderate  extremes,  and  favored  by  the  winds  that 
sweep  over  its  territory.  That  equable  tempera- 
ture which  characterizes  the  zone  of  Gulf  Stream 
influences  has  promoted  the  growth  of  the  various 
agricultural  and  horticultural  industries.  Or- 
chards and  vineyards  thrive  in  the  genial  climate; 
trucking  crops  are  nowhere  better  favored ;  one  can 

(104) 


COTTON  105 

grow  (and  with  profit)  any  agricultural  plant  in- 
digenous to  America  in  almost  any  State  in  the 
belt.  But  though  other  crops  are  grown,  cotton 
here  is  indeed  king,  and  with  improved  soil  con- 
ditions and  wiser  cultural  methods  will  become 
recognized  as  the  most  powerful  plant  monarch 
in  all  the  world. 

For  profitable  production,  cotton  requires: — 

A  relatively  high  temperature 

A  long  growing  season 

A    moderate    and    well-distributed    rainfall 
throughout  the  growing  season 

A  small  amount  of  rain  at  maturing  time 

A  great  deal  of  sunshine. 
These  conditions  are  found  in  the  Cotton  Belt 
to  a  greater  degree  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world. 
When  they  are  prominent  as  features  of  any  sea- 
son a  maximum  yield  is  produced.  But  let  the 
growing  season  be  short,  the  rainfall  excessive,  the 
amount  of  sunshine  small,  or  the  summer  cool  and 
cloudy,  and  the  whole  world  will  know  in  advance 
of  the  harvest  that  a  small  crop  has  been  produced. 

RELATIVELY  HIGH  TEMPERATURE  REQUIRED 

Broadly  speaking  the  mean  temperature  is  from 
15  to  20  degrees  higher  in  North  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Alabama,  and  Texas  than  in  Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Illinois. 

In  winter  the  mean  temperature  is  from  20  to 
25  degrees  higher  in  the  South  and  in  summer  from 
10  to  15  degrees  higher.  This  climatic  condition 
is  especially  favorable  to  cotton  culture,  since  it 
means  a  long  season  free  from  frost  or  low  temper- 
atures. Cotton  enjoys  a  warm  atmosphere,  or  even 
a  hot  atmosphere  provided  it  is  moist  and  reason- 


106  COTTON 

ably  constant.  A  sudden  change  in  temperature 
bringing  on  a  cold  spell  is  objectionable,  for  it 
tends  to  check  the  growth  of  the  plant,  ripen  its 
fruit,  and  influence  its  final  yield  unfavorably. 

A    LONG    GROWING    SEASON 

At  first  cotton  grows  slowly.  In  a  sense  it  is  a 
tender  plant.  A  light  frost  may  do  little  injury; 
still  it  shortens  the  season  and  this  is  an  undesirable 
risk.  An  ideal  situation  with  regard  to  frost  is  to 
have  the  last  spring  frost  no  later  than  April  1st, 
and  the  earliest  autumn  one  no  earlier  than  Novem- 
ber. 

The  Cotton  Belt  provides  the  much  desired 
long  growing  season  better  than  any  other  area  of 
the  earth's  surface  when  other  essentials  and  con- 
trolling influences  are  taken  into  account. 

RAINFALL    PLAYS    A    PART 

More  rain  also  falls  in  the  Cotton  Belt  than  in 
the  northern  section  of  the  country.  This  excess 
varies  from  30  to  50  per  cent.  The  total  rainfall, 
and  the  time  rain  falls,  have  much  to  do  with 
successful  cotton  production. 

A  moderately  well-distributed  rainfall  is  neces- 
sary during  the  growing  season.  A  small  amount 
is  preferable  to  an  excess,  since  grass  is  the  bane 
of  the  cotton  farmer;  and  grass  is  favored  by  much 
rainfall.  When  present  it  adds  greatly  to  the  cost 
of  culture.  The  slow  growth  of  cotton  while  the 
plants  are  young  allows  grass  and  weeds  to  make 
rapid  headway,  and  unless  costly  labor  is  con- 
stantly furnished,  the  tender  cotton  plants  will  be 
choked  out  in  the  race  for  growth  and  sunshine. 


COTTON  107 

In  fact,  among  planters  nowadays,  there  is  a 
tendency  to  delay  the  planting  period  because  of 
this  grass  menace  returning  with  each  planting 
season.  Where  early  maturing  characteristics  are 
bred  into  the  plant  this  practice  will  prove  desir- 
able, since  it  favors  grass  and  weed  destruction  by 
reason  of  the  general  cultivation  given  before  the 
crop  is  planted. 

The  use  of  harrows  and  weeders  immediately 
after  planting,  and  for  some  weeks  later,  will 
materially  assist  in  the  battle  which  must  be  con- 
stantly waged  against  grass — against  "General 
Green,"  as  the  Southern  phrase  has  it. 

During  the  early  growing  period  of  the  plant, 
not  heavy  storms,  but  rain  in  frequent  showers,— 
preferably  at  night  with  much  sunshine  during  the 
day — is  the  sort  of  weather  in  which  cotton 
rejoices. 

Dry  weather  during  the  maturing  period,  is 
especially  favorable  to  cotton  production,  and 
happily  for  the  farmer,  this  dryness  is  peculiarly 
prevalent  throughout  the  Cotton  Belt  in  late  sum- 
mer and  early  fall. 

It  is  probable  that  the  first  half  of  the  plant's 
life  is  the  more  important  half.  In  the  latter  half, 
drought,  excessive  rains,  insects,  shedding  of  bloom 
and  bolls,  and  even  other  troubles  we  have  con- 
stantly. Still  if  the  plant  and  the  crop  reaches 
July  safely  and  in  thrifty  growing  condition,  the 
planter  is  reasonably  sure  that  an  average  crop 
will  be  gathered. 

SUNSHINE   OF    PRIME    IMPORTANCE 

Cotton  grows  only  in  warm  lands  where  there 
is  a  great  deal  of  sunshine.     It  is  truly  a  sun  plant, 


108  COTTON 

the  darling  of  Apollo.  Wet,  cloudy,  and  rainy 
days,  except  in  so  far  as  they  are  necessary  to  supply 
the  comparatively  small  amount  of  moisture  re- 
quired, nave  no  place  in  its  calendar,  and  are 
unfavorable  to  vigorous,  abundant  growth  and 
to  the  yield  of  seed  and  lint. 

The  blossom  itself  tells  us  this.  In  the  morning 
of  a  bright,  clear,  warm  day,  it  opens  to  its  full 
extent  to  drink  in  the  sun,  but  as  soon  as  the  damp 
evening  approaches,  it  closes  as  if  it  would  keep 
cold  and  dew  wholly  without.  In  every  way  the 
plant  shows  its  nature  and  its  longing  for  warmth 
and  sunshine.  Its  green  leaves  even  appear  to 
turn  to  the  east  in  the  morning,  waiting  for  the 
sun  to  rise,  and  seem,  in  a  measure,  to  follow  it  in 
its  course  until  it  sets  in  the  west;  then  they  droop — 
as  if  the  day's  work  were  finished — and  await  the 
coming  of  the  sun  again. 

Climate  has  much  to  do  with  cotton.  A  native 
of  tropical  lands,  it  does  its  best  in  temperate  cli- 
mates, and  seems  unable  to  venture  beyond  the 
limits  of  its  adopted  home.  No  other  staple  field 
crop  in  our  country  is  so  circumscribed.  Other 
than  grass,  corn  (our  leading  crop  by  acreage  and 
production)  has  gone  to  every  part  but  our  western- 
most limits :  wheat,  oats,  rye,  though  all  somewhat 
choice  of  soil,  yet  fear  neither  heat  nor  cold;  but 
cotton,  wedded  to  the  Southern  sunshine,  pines 
away  and,  Rachel-like,  will  not  be  comforted,  when 
taken  from  its  Dixie  home. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

SOILS  AND  HOW  TO  HANDLE  THEM 

There  is  no  soil  typical  of  the  Cotton  Belt.  Cot- 
ton is  grown  alike  on  light  sandy  soils,  on  loams,  on 
heavy  clay  soils,  and  on  strong  bottom  lands, 
though  naturally  not  with  equal  success  on  all  of 
these  varieties  of  soil. 

In  a  general  way  we  may  group  the  cotton  lands 
into  two  great  divisions — the  uplands  and  the 
bottom  lands.  The  former  may  be  sub-divided 
into  light  sandy  soils,  and  red  and  gray  clay  soils; 
while  the  latter  embrace  river-bottoms,  basins  and 
banks  of  small  streams,  the  prairies  and  cane- 
brakes,  and  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  its 
branches. 

These  soils  vary  greatly  in  origin,  in  composition, 
in  productive  power.  Like  other  lands,  they  are 
subject  to  change;  and  respond  to  good  treatment 
or  suffer  from  inattention  and  neglect. 

In  all  parts  of  the  South  one  sees  cotton  soils 
once  abounding  in  fertility,  but  now  so  exhausted 
that  they  grow  crops  hardly  worth  the  cost  of 
seed,  fertilizers  and  tillage.  On  the  other  hand, 
other  cotton  soils  which  inherited  poverty  through 
generations  of  thriftless  ownership,  are  now  noted 
for  their  high  productive  power. 

Every  soil  helps  its  owner  in  proportion  to  the 


110  COTTON 

owner's  ability  to  help  it.  High  pedigree,  if  one 
may  use  this  term  in  this  connection,  counts  for 
little,  if  a  poor  farmer  owns  the  land.  Just  as  the 
canvas  reveals  the  training  and  the  power  of  the 
artist,  so  the  cotton  soil  testifies  as  to  the  intelligence 
and  skill  of  the  owner. 

THE    SUPREME    TEST    OF   THE    PLANTER 

Power  to  make  the  soil  produce  remunerative 
crops  is  the  supreme  test  of  cotton  farming.  With- 
out this  power,  good  prices  for  the  staple,  an  ideal 
climate  or  situation,  a  propitious  season,  are  of  as 
little  agricultural  value  as  "sounding  brass  or 
tinkling  cymbals." 

What  then  is  needed  ? 

This  is  needed:  Knowledge  of  the  soil  and  its 
management.  The  cotton  farmer  must  so  know 
his  soil  and  its  proper  management  that  he  can 
make  it  yield  better  crops ;  that  he  can  permanently 
improve  it  for  the  generations  that  are  to  come  after 
him;  that  he  can  make  not  two,  but  five  pounds  of 
lint  or  seed  grow  where  one  grew  before.  These 
happy  ends  can  be  achieved  only  by  the  most  in- 
telligent cultivation,  and  by  the  application  of  every 
principle  of  improvement  revealed  by  modern 
science. 

HELPING   NATURE 

The  soil  we  know  was  once  rock.  Through 
countless  years  this  primitive  rock  has  been  dis- 
integrating and  making  soil.  The  great  forces  of 
nature  through  ages  and  ages  of  recurring  summer 
and  winter  have  been  at  work  on  it.  And  soil  build- 
ing never  stops.  Our  cotton  soils  are  being  made 
to-day.  But  you  must  help  nature  in  her  effort  to 
make  your  own  soil  more  productive.     You  must 


COTTON  111 

neither  check  nor  discourage  her.  She  wants  your 
helping  hand.  If  the  soil  has  been  robbed  of  its 
humus,  you  must  return  this  important  element; 
you  must  add  chemical  manures  when  needed;  you 
must  plow  deeply  and  effectively  that  a  good  seed 
bed  be  provided  for  the  tender  plants;  legumes 
must  be  grown  that  their  strong,  deep-growing  roots 
may  add  nitrogen  and  also  penetrate  and  loosen  the 
sub-soil,  and  bring  to  the  upper  layers  the  rich 
plant  food  of  the  fertile  mines  beneath. 

GOOD    TILLAGE    NEEDED 

Our  Southern  soils  possess  great  possibilities  for 
improvement.  They  are  not  exhausted  and  dead 
as  generally  supposed.  Good  tillage  will  help 
many  of  them  as  it  helps  soils  devoted  to  oth-er  crops. 

The  plow  will  do  much  to  restore  virgin  fertility. 
It  will  assist  nature  in  making  plant  food  available 
for  the  tiny  fibrous  roots.  The  plow  will  let  air  and 
moisture  into  the  soil  that  they  may  do  their  share 
in  rendering  hitherto  locked-up  plant  food  avail- 
able for  the  plant. 

Good  tillage  means  more  than  turning  a  three  or 
four  inch  furrow,  as  is  the  usual  practice  through 
most  of  the  Cotton  Belt.  It  means  the  gradual 
deepening  of  the  root  bed  until  ten  or  a  dozen 
inches  are  turned  to  the  air  for  purification  and 
rejuvenation. 

CROP  ROTATION  NEEDED  FOR  COTTON  LANDS 

Not  only  do  our  cotton  lands  need  more  thorough 
tillage,  but  through  the  greater  part  of  the  Cotton 
Belt  the  one-crop  system  is  practiced.  From  its 
very  nature  it  is  a  ruinous  system,  leading  inevitably 
to  the  deterioration  of  the  land. 


112  COTTON 

Why  is  this  true  ? 

Because  it  does  the  following  things : 

1.  It  injures  the  texture  of  the  soil  by  making 
light  soils  loose  and  open,  and  heavy  soils  dead  and 
lifeless. 

2.  It  destroys  the  humus  of  the  soil;  and  no 
soil  can  remain  fertile  if  it  contains  little  or  no 
organic  matter. 

3.  It  influences  unfavorably  the  water  content 
of  the  soil:  light  sandy  soils  with  little  vegetable 
matter  are  loose  and  open,  and  soon  lose  the 
moisture  in  them;  heavy  clay  soils  robbed  of  their 
vegetable  matter  quickly  dry  out  and  bake. 

4.  It  influences  unfavorably  the  amount  of 
available  plant  food  in  the  soil.  Vegetable  matter 
itself  contains  plant  food  and  when  used  up,  with 
no  additional  amount  to  replace  it,  the  loss  is  soon 
felt.  Plant  food  is  lost  also  by  leaching  away  in 
loose  soils  or  by  becoming  insoluble  in  stiff  heavy 
lands. 

5.  It  draws  too  constantly  on  tnat  special  ratio 
of  fertilizing  ingredients  most  needed  by  the  cotton 
plant.  A  crop  following  after  one  requiring  a  some- 
what different  proportion  of  nitrogen,  potash  and 
phosphoric  acid,  does  much  to  restore  the  proper 
balance  required  for  the  most  profitable  cotton 
production. 

Continuous  culture  of  cotton  on  any  land,  then, 
is  undesirable.  Its  harmful  influence  may  be  over- 
come only  by  a  system  that  involves  a  change  of 
crops. 

Such  a  change  of  crops  is  suggested  by  nature 
herself.  Cut  a  forest  growth  and  a  change  of  trees 
comes  on.  Pasture  lands  give  way  to  many  weeds 
and  thistles ;  bluegrass  and  Bermuda  drive  out  the 
clovers  and  timothy.     Crops  do  better  when    fur- 


COTTON 


113 


nished  new  land  and  soil  new  to  them.  Just  as  an 
animal  likes  variety  in  food  and  a  change  of  pasture, 
so  the  cotton  plant  wants  occasionally,  a  new  and 
fresh  feeding  ground. 

A  SUGGESTED  SCHEME  OF  CROP  ROTATION 

In  arranging  an  order  of  crop  rotation  that  shall 
serve  best  your  system  of  farming,  it  is  well  to  bear 
in  mind  that  plants  vary : — 

1.  As  to  taste  in  kinds  and  quantity  of  plant 
food. 

2 .  In  feeding  habits . 

3.  In  the  power  to  add  humus  to  the  soil,  or 
(because  of  culture)  to  use  it  up. 

4.  In  the  ability  of  some,  like  cowpeas,  alfalfa, 
and  the  clovers,  to  add  nitrogen  to  the  soil. 

These  are  only  general  rules  but  should  be  em- 
ployed whenever  possible  because  their  use  will  aid 
materially  in  the  rapid  improvement  of  cotton  lands. 
An  example  of  such  a  rotation  is  given  herewith : 


First  Year 

Second  Year 

Third  Year 

Summer 

Fall 

Summer 

Winter 

Summer 

Winter 

Corn 

Cow- 
peas* 

Cotton 

Oats  or 
Wheat 

Cow- 
peas 

Rye  or 
Clover 

•Planted  in  com  at  last  cultivation. 


If  you  examine  this  three-year-course  rotation 
you  will  find  that  it  includes  two  nitrogen  crops 
(cowpeas  and  clover)  for  soil  improvement  and  hay; 
two  cultivated  crops  (corn  and  cotton)  for  physical 


114  COTTON 

improvement  of  the  soil  and  to  kill  weeds;  two 
grain  and  fiber  crops  (oats  or  wheat  and  cotton)  for 
money  crops;  and  two  stock  feeding  crops  (corn 
and  clover  or  rye)  for  pasture,  ensilage  or  stover. 

USE  LEGUMES  AND  COVER  CROPS 

Good  soil  management  calls  for  some  legumes 
to  assist  in  keeping  the  land  fertile  and  full  of 
humus.  The  cowpea  accomplishes  this  purpose 
best  of  all  our  legumes  in  the  Cotton  Belt,  because 
it  grows  on  every  kind  of  soil,  in  wet  or  dry  seasons, 
and  in  hot  or  warm  temperatures.  Rather  than 
allow  any  land  to  lie  idle  as  a  "  rest"  year,  sow  it  to 
cowpeas  so  as  to  furnish  both  hay  for  the  work 
stock  and  humus  and  nitrogen  for  the  soil. 

A  cover  crop  like  clover,  oats,  or  wheat  is  also  a 
great  help,  since  it  prevents  washing  of  land  during 
the  winter  months.  We  are  confident  that  more 
soil  fertility  is  lost  by  the  washing  and  leaching  of 
exposed  soils  during  the  winter  season  than  the 
cotton  crop  removes  from  the  land  during  the 
whole  six  months  of  its  growth. 

The  cotton  farmer  should  include,  therefore, 
cover  crops  and  legumes  in  his  system  of  crop 
rotation,  that  these  important  agents  in  soil  im- 
provement, may  do  the  great  work  they  always 
stand  ready  to  do  for  him. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


BRINGING   EXHAUSTED    SOILS   BACK   TO    LIFE 

We  have  few  cotton  soils  that  are  really  worn-out. 
We  merely  call  them  so.  We  have  treated  them 
badly;  so  badly  that  they  have  become  unre- 
sponsive to  our  calls.  Some  of  these  were  good 
once,  others  were  less  valuable,  but  bad  treatment, 
cruel  neglect,  and  thoughtlessness  of  their  com- 
fort, have  contributed  to  making  them  what  they 
are  to-day. 

What  shall  we  do  with  them  ? 

We  can  do  three  things : 

(1)  Turn  them  over  to  weeds  and  gullies. 

(2)  Make  forests  out  of  them. 

(3)  Bring  them  back  to  productiveness  and 
beauty. 

Of  course,  we  have  no  desire  to  give  them  over  to 
weeds  and  gullies.  We  have  already  enough  of 
each.  Weeds  come  as  nature's  blessings  to  those 
abandoned  fields,  but  the  gully  leaves  only  ruin 
and  desolation  to  mark  its  track. 

Perhaps  there  are  many  areas  where  hills  and 
rocks  abound  that  might  be  used  to  better  advantage 
if  turned  over  to  forest  growth.  Timber  lands  are 
becoming  valuable,  and  with  the  coming  years, 
will  be  still  more  valuable.  Hence,  lands  diflScult 
of  tillage  and  cultivation  might  be  better  employed 


116  COTTON 

in  bringing  on  new  crops  of  timber  for  future 
generations  that  are  to  need  them. 

Still,  the  greater  part  of  these  so-called  worn-out 
lands  may  be  reclaimed  and  brought  back  to  the 
fructuous  state  they  were  in  before  the  soil-robber 
came. 

The  first  step  is  this:  Clean  them  up  and  give 
them  the  advantage  of  good  appearance.  If 
clothes  make  the  man,  good  looks  make  the  field. 
If  fields  could  think,  they  would  doubtless  act  like 
animals  and  men :  to  show  their  value  they  would 
wish  to  look  well.  But  to  be  covered  with  brush 
and  thickets  and  gullies  and  the  like  is  enough  to 
make  them  shameful  and  little-doers. 

AMPLE   REWARDS    IN   RECLAIMING  WORN-OUT  SOIL 

Treat  these  lands  liberally  and  they  will  brighten 
up  and  respond  gloriously.  For  every  cent  you 
spend  on  them  in  the  way  of  better  appearance  and 
clean  faces  they  will  return  many.  Every  gullied 
wrinkle  you  remove  will  bring  hope  and  earning 
power  to  them,  and  to  you;  the  care  and  attention 
expended  in  grooming  with  axe  and  plow  will  pro- 
duce marvelous  changes  in  appearance,  productive 
ability,  and  commercial  value. 

Possibly  you  have  many  acres  of  this  kind  of 
land.  If  so,  reclaim  them  as  you  can.  Five  acres, 
ten  or  fifty:  work  in  this  fashion  as  far  as  you  are 
able.  Winter  is  the  time,  and  there  is  none  better. 
You  are  not  busy  with  details  of  work:  your  men, 
your  tenants,  have  many,  many  idle  days;  your 
teams  are  inactive  because  winter  is  on,  and  no 
pressing  work  is  to  be  done.  Make  work:  employ 
men  and  teams  in  these  old  fields.  Cut  the  thick- 
ets, mow  the  briers  and  brush ;  plow  the  soil  deeper 


GETTING  FERTILIZER  FROM  THE  AlH 

Growing  clover  or  any  other  leguminous  (nitrogen-gathering)  cr(jp  in  rotation 
with  cotton  is  the  most  satisfactory  way  of  keeping  up  the  fertility  of  cotton  lands. 


M 

'*H^-  A  .Ts  .'^  j^JMpiP? 

tv<r:*i^j.   ■ 

-    W  ■  \.. -/,■'.  ^y-r-^Z     /■  •■*^r< 

S^^^BSaX^  l^^Bl^^^m 

.-      ,^/^^   ;e^'-^.:^     .^;,^ 

.-  •    .^.SA_- 

(.         ....--              ^"*     v^          •     /                                      .       - 

CI  I/nVATING  THE  ciior. 

The  okl  ridging  system  of  cotton  cultivation  is  going  out  of  fashion.  In  the 
first  picture  we  have  the  mule  and  the  one-horse  plow;  in  the  second  the  more 
modern — and  more  economical — two-horse  cultivator. 


COTTON  117 

than  you  have  ever  done  before.  Let  the  one- 
horse  plow  alone.  It  is  useless  in  these  old  fields. 
A  larger,  heavier  one  is  needed  and  two  horses  or 
mules  will  be  required  for  the  work.  If  you  are 
able  to  do  this  during  earlier  winter  the  clay  sub- 
soil turned  up  will  do  no  harm.  Freezing  and 
thawing,  air  and  rain,  will  get  things  ready  for  the 
crop  and  no  harm  will  be  done. 

Have  you  ever  done  this  work  ?  Have  you  ever 
tried  it  on  your  old  fields .?  It  may  surprise  you. 
It  has  surprised  us. 

THE    COWPEA    AS    AN    ALLY    IN    SOIL     RESTORA- 
TION 

You  are  now  ready  for  the  spring  to  come.  Of 
course  you  will  use  the  cowpea.  It  will  do  the 
work  if  any  plant  in  all  the  world  can  do  it.  It  will 
send  its  roots  down  deep  into  the  subsoil  below;  it 
will  put  nitrogen  into  the  land,  humus  will  be  added ; 
the  texture  will  be  improved;  the  soil  will  come  to 
life.  You  may  get  only  a  small  growth  of  cowpeas 
the  first  year.  It  will  depend  on  how  badly  the 
soil  is  deteriorated;  on  how  much  it  is  worn  out. 
You  can  pasture  the  cowpeas  or  make  them  into 
hay,  or  leave  them  to  mature  and  die.  Suit  your- 
self in  this  respect. 

And  now  winter  comes  on  again.  Go  into 
another  field.  Clean  it  up  in  the  same  way  as  you 
have  done  the  one  we  have  just  been  consider- 
ing. And  last  year's  section — ^you  must  not  forget 
it.  In  winter  plow  it  again  and  put  it  to  peas  a 
second  time  and  then  a  third  time.  That  makes 
the  field.  It  lives!  it  is  restored  to  life.  Though 
weak  and  tender,  still  it  will  go  to  work  bravely  and 
willingly. 


118  COTTON 

Let  cotton  come;  the  old  field  is  icady,  there  is 
no  weariness  now;  no  dragging  of  feet  because 
famished  by  hunger  or  thirst;  no  sullen  soil  in 
which  the  cotton  plant  must  send  its  unwelcome 
roots  in  search  of  food;  no  empty  larder  from 
which  it  is  to  turn  away  disappointed. 

FOUR   THINGS   TO    DO 

Be  reasonable  with  this  soil  from  this  time  on.  If 
you  over-work  it,  evil  results  are  sure  to  follow. 
Treat  it  properly  and  it  will  grow  stronger  and 
better.     It  will  never  despair  again. 

These  four  things  you  must  do : 

(1)  Grow  a  legume  of  some  kind  every  year  or 
two 

(2)  Use  cotton  only  in  some  rotation 

(3)  Plow  deep  and  cultivate  thoroughly 

(4)  Keep  humus  in  the  soil. 

Fertilizers  usually  can  be  employed  to  advantage 
in  soil  restoration.  Much  plant  food  is  not  avail- 
able. It  is  present  in  the  soil,  but  not  in  forms  that 
plants  can  use.  Time,  tillage  and  thoroughness 
only  will  wake  this  plant  food  from  its  sleep  and 
rest  that  plants  may  use  it  abundantly,  and  when 
they  have  need  for  it.  Until  that  time  phosphorus 
and  potassium  may  be  added  to  the  soil  to  help 
the  cowpea.  Nitrogen  is  not  needed,  since  the 
cowpea  attracts  the  bacteria  that  build  nitrogenous 
store-houses  on  its  roots. 

This  mutual  arrangement  is  especially  helpful  to 
the  cowpea,  since  it  is  a  ravenous  nitrogen  feeder 
and  finds  an  abundance  of  nitrogen  within 
reach  of  mouth  and  hand.  So  chemical  nitrogen 
is  not  needed  as  a  fertilizer  for  cowpeas.  A  mix- 
ture of  sixteen  hundred  pounds  of  acid  phosphate. 


COTTON  119 

and  400  pounds  of  kainit  makes  a  good  combination 
of  which  from  150  to  300  pounds  may  be  used  per 
acre. 

A  good  growth  of  cowpeas  means  the  addition 
of  a  great  deal  of  humus  and  nitrogen  to  the  soil. 
It  means  the  employment  of  the  most  economical 
methods  for  providing  the  nitrogenous  part  of  the 
cotton  fertilizer. 

And  not  only  does  it  furnish  the  most  costly 
element  of  fertilizer;  it  also  furnishes  humus 
which  is  the  back-bone  and  the  life  of  the  soil, 


CHAPTER  XV. 

COTTON  unique:  a  self-supporting  crop 

Cotton,  like  other  plants,  gets  its  food  for  life 
and  growth  from  the  soil,  the  water,  and  the  air. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem  on  first  blush,  it  is  from  air 
and  from  water  that  all  plants  are  chiefly  derived. 
From  the  air  carbon  enters  the  leaves  and  there 
forms  the  so-called  carbonaceous  matter  of  the 
plant.  Cotton  lint  is  pure  cellulose,  a  material 
made  from  the  carbonic  acid  of  the  air.  From  the 
air,  too,  comes  a  large  part  of  the  oxygen  which, 
next  to  carbon,  is  the  predominant  constituent  of 
the  dry  matter  in  the  cotton  plant,  as  well  as  in 
other  plants.  Other  elements  found  in  cotton  are 
hydrogen,  nitrogen,  sulphur,  calcium,  sodium, 
magnesium,  chlorine,  iron,  aluminum,  potassium, 
phosphorus,  and  silicon. 

WHAT    IS   A    FERTILE    SOIL? 

A  fertile  cotton  soil  must  contain  all  the  elements 
of  plant  food  in  sufficient  quantities  and  in  available 
form  to  produce  productive  crops.  As  a  rule,  the 
soil  elements  are  present  in  sufficient  quantities  to 
produce  paying  crops.  Nitrogen,  phosphorus  and 
potassium,  however,  may  be  deficient,  and  if  so, 
must  be  added  through  other  means,  or  the  crop 
will  manifest  its  loss  by  making  small  growth  and 


COTTON  121 

diminutive  returns  in  seed  and  lint.  By  a  de- 
ficiency is  meant,  in  this  case,  an  insufficient 
amount  of  plant  food  available  for  the  use  of  the 
plants. 

Really,  as  we  have  already  seen,  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  worn-out  cotton  soils.  There  are  poor 
cotton  soils,  unproductive  cotton  soils,  infertile  cot- 
ton soils,  but  they  are  so  because  of  improper  man- 
agement; because  the  humus  has  been  destroyed; 
shallow  plowing  has  been  followed;  plant  food  has 
been  lost  or  locked  up. 

Tillage  and  humus — -and  these  alone — unlock 
the  door  to  this  treasure-house  of  old  Mother 
Earth.  The  addition  of  nitrogen,  phosphorus  and 
potassium  in  chemical  forms  is  only  a  temporary 
arrangement  to  make  better  crops  for  the  time 
being.  No  permanent  improvement  of  the  soil  will 
result  unless  tillage  and  an  abundant  amount  of 
humus  become  the  basis  of  such  improvement. 
Chemical  fertilizers  are  to  be  used,  therefore,  as 
supplementary  helps,  rather  than  as  primary  con- 
ditions. 

We  are  now  ready  to  consider  the  feeding  de- 
mands of  the  cotton  plant  in  reference  to  the  forms 
of  plant  food  usually  purchased — nitrogen,  phos- 
phorus, and  potassium. 

But  first,  let  us  divide  the  cotton  plant  into  its 
parts  that  we  may  clearly  know  the  relative  quan- 
tities of  each. 

PARTS  OF  AN  AVERAGE  COTTON  PLANT 
Part  Per  cent. 

Roots 8.80 

Lint 10.56 

Bolls 14.21 

Leaves 20.25 


122  COTTON 

PARTS  OF  AN  AVERAGE  COTTON  PLANT 

{Continued) 
Part  Per  cent. 

Seed 23 .  03 

Stems 23.15 

Total 100.00 

Elsewhere  it  has  been  stated  that  190  pounds  of 
cotton  lint  is  the  average  annual  yield  per  acre.  If 
we  use  the  following  table  of  percentages,  therefore, 
we  find  that  an  average  crop  of  cotton  contains : 

190  pounds  lint; 

157  pounds  roots; 

9,5Q  pounds  bolls; 

364  pounds  leaves; 

414  pounds  seed; 

416  pounds  stems. 

QUANTITIES    OF    PLANT    FOOD    REQUIRED 

In  ascertaining  the  demands  of  the  cotton  plant 
in  respect  to  nitrogen,  phosphorus,  and  potassium, 
we  can  go  to  the  plant  itself  for  the  information.  Pro- 
fessor McBryde  has  analyzed  a  great  many  cotton 
plants,  and  from  his  work  the  amount  of  plant  food 
usedbyeachpart  is  readily  calculated.  In  this  dis- 
cussion, the  reader  must  observe  that  only  nitrogen, 
phosphorus,  and  potassium  are  considered,  since 
they  are  the  only  elements  purchased  in  commer- 
cial forms,  the  others  being  usually  available  in  suf- 
ficient quantities  in  the  soil.  These  facts  are  shown 
in  the  following  table; 


THE  RESCUE  OF  OLD  LANDS. 

Gradually  deepening  the  seed  bed — the  pasture  ground  of  the  roots 
most  effective  ways  of  getting  more  wealth  from  cotton. 


COTTON 


123 


PARTS  AND  DEMANDS  FOR  YIELD  OF  AVERAGE 

ACRE 


Quantity  and  part 

Nitro. 

Phos. 

Potas. 

190  pounds  lint 

416  pounds  of  stems 

.65 
6.08 
1.44 

11.70 
6.51 

12.98 

.19 
2.45 

.81 
4.33 

2.47 
5.26 

.87 
5.87 

1 57  pounds  of  roots 

2.01 

364  pounds  of  leaves 

256  pounds  of  bolls 

6.57 
4.64 

414  pounds  of  seed 

4.84 

Total 

39.34 

15.51 

24.80 

Here  we  find  the  average  cotton  crop  of  1 90  pounds 
of  lint  draws  from  the  soil  40  pounds  of  nitrogen, 
16  pounds  of  phosphorus,  and  25  pounds  of  potas- 
sium. But  stems,  roots,  leaves,  and  bolls  are  re- 
turned to  the  soil,  and  are  therefore  not  really  taken 
from  the  land  at  all.  Lint  and  seed  are  taken 
away,  and  are  removed  from  the  land.  Now  what 
draft  is  made  on  the  soil  ?  Let  us  see,  and  at  the  same 
time  compare  with  corn  and  wheat  on  the  basis  of 
the  average  yield  of  each  crop  per  acre. 

We  have  the  following  facts: 


Crop 

Nitro. 

Phos. 

Potas. 

Totals 

Cotton 

190  lbs.  lint 

414     "     seed  

.65 

12.92 

.19 
5.26 

.87 
4.84 

Total.... 
Corn 

29.4  bus.  grain 

4000  lbs.  stover 

13.57 

32.14 
41.60 

5.45 

12.36 
11.60 

5.71 

7.06 
56.00 

24.73 

Total.  .  .  . 
Wheat 

13.95  bus.  grain 

2300  lbs.  straw 

73.74 

19.75 
13.57 

23.96 

7.44 
2.76 

63.06 

5.1 
11.73 

160.71 

Total.... 

33.32 

10.20 

16.83 

60.35 

124 


COTTON 


COTTON 


A     FAR     LESS     EXHAUSTIVE 
THAN    CORN    OR    WHEAT 


CROP 


This  table  shows  several  interesting  things.  The 
most  striking  fact  brought  to  our  attention  is  this: 

Of  the  three  great  staple  crops  of  America,  cotton 
is  by  far  the  least  exhaustive. 

Wheat  requires  more  than  twice  and  corn  nearly 
seven  times  as  much  plant  food  as  does    cotton. 

Nor  is  this  all.  We  will  suppose  that  cotton  seed, 
corn  stover  and  wheat  straw  are  used  on  the  farm,  and 
in  the  end  find  their  way  back  to  the  soil.  The  plant 
food  they  contain  will  be  returned  to  the  land  from 
whence  it  was  taken.  We  will  now  find  a  still 
greater  difference  in  reference  to  the  demands  on 
the  soil  made  by  each  crop,  as  is  shown  in  the  table 
below : 


Crop 

Nitro. 

Phos. 

Totas. 

Total 

190  lbs.  lint  .... 
29.4  bus.  corn. . 
13.95  bus.  wheat 

.65 
32.14 
19.75 

.19          .87 

12.36        7.06 

7.44        5.10 

1.71 
51.56 
32.29 

In  respect  then  to  the  amounts  of  nitrogen,  phos- 
phorus and  potassium  required  for  average  acre 
yields  of  cotton,  wheat  and  corn  in  the  United 
States,  wheat  calls  for  19  times  as  much  of  these 
elements  as  cotton,  and  corn  calls  for  30  times  as 
much  as  cotton. 

RETURNING  COTTONSEED  TO  THE  SOIL  ESSEN- 
TIAL  TO    ITS    PRESERVATION 


The  greatest  demand  on  the  soil  by  the  cotton 
plant  is  for  seed  production.     For  the  average 


COTTON  125 

yield  13  pounds  of  nitrogen,  5  pounds  of  phosphorus 
and  6  pounds  of  potassium  are  used. 

If  seed  are  sold,  cotton  is  an  exhaustive  crop, 
but  still  only  moderately  so.  When  a  rational 
system  of  farming  is  followed  so  that  seed  (or  its  equiv- 
alent in  meal)  may  be  used  by  live  stock  on  the 
farm,  and  returned  in  manure  to  the  land,  cotton 
becomes  the  least  exhaustive  of  all  field  crops. 
The  demands  on  the  soil  are  slight,  indeed,  when 
lint  is  the  only  product  that  goes  from  the  farm. 
Wise  is  the  farmer  who  realizes  this,  and  blessed  is 
he  whose  farming  methods  recognize  this  practice. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

BUYING   FERTILITY   FOR  THE   SOIL 

The  small  yield  of  cotton  per  acre  over  the  greater 
part  of  the  Cotton  Belt  is  due  to  poor  management 
in  maintaining  fertility,  small  quantities  of  home- 
made manures,  sale  of  cotton  seed  from  the  farm, poor 
tillage,  the  limited  growing  of  leguminous  crops,  an 
ill-planned  tenant  system,  and  the  lack  of  systematic 
crop  rotation  in  the  management  of  cotton  farms. 

All  these  factors  have  contributed  to  the  small  re- 
turns in  yield  and  to  the  constantly  increasing  de- 
mands for  commercial  fertilizers. 

Where  attention  is  given  to  all  these  details  cotton 
growing  becomes  at  once  the  most  profitable  of  all 
kinds  of  farming  in  the  whole  world. 

The  small  farm,  as  well  as  the  large  plantation, 
is  ever  confronted  with  new  phases  of  management ; 
the  owner  is  successful  in  proportion  to  his  ability 
to  meet  these  new  phases  and  so  adjust  them  to  his 
work  that  they  will  conduce  to  his  profit  and 
advantage. 

The  use  of  commercial  fertilizers  has  assumed 
gigantic  proportions  in  cotton  production  and  calls 
for  constant  discussion. 

We  have  mentioned  elsewhere  that  of  the  four- 
teen chemical  elements  demanded  by  the  cotton 
plant,  nitrogen,  phosphorus  and  potassium  are  the 
only  ones  likely  to  be  deficient  in  old  soils,  and. 


V^HEar  Qeeo  Ccttcn  Limt  Cc 


Im'^Mh' 


TWO  WAYS  OF  FERTILIZING 

A  common  fertilizer  formula  is  the  "S-2-2";  the  diagram  shows  its  relative 
quantities  of  actual  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid  and  potash.  The  second  way  shows 
the  cheapest  and  easiest  way  of  getting  nitrogen  ami  humus  into  the  land. 


COTTON  127 

hence,  must  be  furnished  if  satisfactory  yields  are 
to  be  obtained. 

How  to  furnish  these  elements — in  what  forms; 
at  what  time;  and  in  what  quantity — are  problems, 
which,  like  the  poor,  we  have  always  with  us. 

That  fertilizers  pay  is  attested  every  year  on 
nearly  every  farm  and  with  most  emphatic  proofs. 
That  they  are  often,  if  not  usually,  employed 
without  the  attention  due  their  importance  is  also 
certainly  true. 

The  judicious  use  of  fertilizers  demands  that 
every  farmer  make  not  only  a  study  of  sources  and 
relative  values,  but  also  a  study  of  his  own  soil  and 
crop  conditions.  Fertilizers  show  their  greatest 
profit  where  the  farmer  practices  thorough  prep- 
paration  of  land  and  careful  tillage.  Here  it  is,  too, 
that  they  can  be  used  in  greatest  quantities  with 
most  economical  results. 

NITROGEN 

Nitrogen  is  the  most  costly  element  of  plant  food 
that  we  buy,  and  for  this  reason  its  production  by 
means  of  home-made  manures  and  legumes  should 
be  carefully  considered. 

Four-fifths  of  the  atmosphere  is  made  of  nitro- 
gen, but  unfortunately  this  atmospheric  nitrogen  is 
in  a  form  not  available  for  plant  use.  There  is  a 
compensating  influence,  however,  in  the  fact  that 
nitrifying  bacteria  seek  out  the  leguminous  crops, 
and  on  their  roots  store  up  nitrogen  in  small 
tubercles,  ready  for  use  by  the  growing  plant. 

SOURCES  OF  NITROGEN 

In  commercial  forms  and  factorv-mixed  ferti- 


128  COTTON 

lizers,  we  jBnd  several  materials  for  supplying 
nitrogen : 

Nitrate  of  Soda  or  Chili  Salt-peter  is  a  white 
solid  which  is  mined  in  the  rainless  districts  of 
South  America,  especially  in  Chili  and  Peru. 
When  prepared  for  commercial  use  it  contains 
from  15^  to  16  per  cent  of  nitrogen  or  320  pounds 
to  the  ton. 

Nitrate  of  soda  dissolves  easily  in  water,  and 
rapidly  distributes  itself  through  the  soil  where 
plant  roots  can  make  use  of  it.  The  plants  take 
their  nitrogen  from  the  soil  in  the  form  of  nitrate, 
regardless  of  the  source  of  supply,  hence  this 
material  is  the  most  immediately  available  form 
of  plant  food  found  in  commercial  substances. 
When  used  in  large  quantities  there  is  danger  of 
loss  because  of  the  ease  with  which  the  material 
becomes  soluble. 

Sulphate  of  Ammonia: — This  substance  con- 
tains about  20  per  cent  of  nitrogen  or  400  pounds 
to  the  ton.  While  quite  available  it  must  be 
changed  first  into  nitrate  form  before  being  used  by 
plants. 

Dried  Blood: — Contains  from  8  to  12  per  cent  of 
nitrogen  and  7  to  14  per  cent  of  phosphoric  acid, 
and  is  the  richest  substance  coming  from  animal 
products. 

Tankage: — ^A  by-product  of  the  slaughtering 
house,  contains  from  4  to  8  per  cent  of  nitrogen  and 
7  to  14  per  cent  of  phosphoric  acid.  It  slowly  de- 
composes in  the  soil,  but  is  a  valuable  material 
for  cotton  fertilizers. 

Dried  Fish  Scrap: — This  substance  is  a  by- 
product of  the  fish  oil  and  canning  factories.  It 
contains    both    nitrogen    and    phosphorus,    there 


COTTON  129 

being  from  6  to  8  per  cent  of  the  former  and  7  to  9 
per  cent  of  the  latter. 

Cotton  Seed  Meal: — Contains  7  per  cent  of 
nitrogen,  or  140  pounds  to  the  ton,  and  is  the  most 
important  of  the  vegetable  products  used  in 
commercial  fertihzers.  It  decays  very  rapidly  but 
lasts  for  a  considerable  length  of  time.  It  is  much 
less  quickly  available  than  nitrate  of  soda  or 
sulphate  of  ammonia,  and  more  promptly  available 
than  tankage. 

PHOSPHORUS 

Experiments  tend  to  show  that  phosphorus  is  the 
chief  element  demanded  by  most  cotton  soils.  As 
is  true  of  nitrogen,  so  phosphorus  is  necessary  to 
the  full  and  complete  development  of  all  parts  of 
the  plant,  but  its  usual  use  is  in  fruit  and  seed 
production.  Being  a  mineral  substance,  a  de- 
ficient supply  in  the  soil  can  be  reinforced  only 
through  artificial  means. 

SOURCES  OF  PHOSPHORUS 

Phosphatic  Rock: — These  are  mined  in  North 
and  South  Carolina,  Tennessee,  Georgia,  and 
Florida.  They  must  be  ground  finely  before  being 
used,  and  even  then  are  slow  to  decay.  Best 
results  are  obtained  by  treating  the  ground  rock 
with  sulphuric  acid  to  make  the  phosphoric  acid 
available. 

These  materials  make  up  the  bulk  of  the  phos- 
phorus supply  in  cotton  fertilizers.  They  contain 
from  12  to  16  per  cent  of  available  phosphoric 
acid. 

Bone  Fertilizers: — Bone  was  early  used  as  a 
fertilizer   and   is   still   popular    today.     "Ground 


130  COTTON 

bone,"  '*fine  ground  bone,"  "bone  dust,"  "bone 
meal,"  "dissolved  bone,"  are  terms  to  indicate 
the  mechanical  treatment  and  physical  condition 
of  the  fertilizer.  Ground  bone  contains  from  2  to  4 
per  cent  of  nitrogen,  and  20  to  35  per  cent  of 
phosphorus;  steamed  bone  from  1  to  2  per  cent  of 
nitrogen  and  25  to  30  per  cent  of  phosphorus;  and 
dissolved  bone  2  to  3  per  cent  of  nitrogen  and  12  to 
14  per  cent  of  available  phosphorus. 

POTASSIUM 

Potassium,  the  last  of  the  elements  likely  to  be 
deficient  in  the  land,  seems  to  be  less  urgently 
in  demand  by  the  soils  of  the  Cotton  Belt  than 
are  nitrogen  and  phosphorus.  Its  best  use  is  in 
connection  with  phosphorus. 

The  principal  commercial  materials  that  furnish 
this  element  are  obtained  from  potash  mines  at 
Strassfurt,  Germany.  Potassium  either  in  kainit 
or  muriate  of  potash  is  rapidly  soluble  in  water  and 
equally  available  to  the  cotton  plant. 

Kainit: — This  substance  is  the  one  most  com- 
monly used  as  a  potassium  carrier  for  cotton.  It 
contains  12J  per  cent  of  potassium  or  250  pounds 
to  the  ton. 

Muriate  of  Potash: — This  is  a  purified  substance 
of  the  potash  mines,  and  is  one  of  the  richest 
materials  supplying  potassium.  It  contains  fifty 
per  cent  of  potassium  or  1000  pounds  to  the  ton. 

BUYING  COMMERCIAL  FERTILIZERS 

Commercial  fertilizers  make  up  the  bulk  of  our 
purchased  cotton  manures.  They  are  sold  under 
hundreds  of  names,  but  are  valuable  only  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  of  plant  food  they  contain. 

Of   course,    one   should   always   be   guided   in 


COTTON  131 

buying  factory  mixed  goods  by  the  guaranteed 
analysis  and  not  by  any  particular  name  or  brand. 

Nitrogen  is  usually  about  three  times  as  costly 
as  phosphorus  and  potassium.  The  prices  of 
these  elements  vary  from  year  to  year,  but  in  a 
general  way  one  can  place  the  commercial  value  of 
nitrogen  at  fifteen  cents  per  pound  and  phos- 
phorus and  potassium  at  five  cents  per  pound. 

In  computing  relative  values  of  different  fertilizers 
you  should  bear  in  mind  that  1  per  cent  means 
one  pound  in  a  hundred,  or  twenty  pounds  in  a  ton. 
It  is  also  a  good  plan  to  base  your  estimate  on  the 
lowest  percentage  figure,  since  these  more  truly 
represent  the  true  value;  the  higher  ones  are 
usually  put  there  to  deceive  the  purchaser. 

To  snow  the  manner  of  estimating  fertilizers,  I 
will  use  two  brands  commonly  sold  on  the  market : 

No.  1.   Guaranteed  Analysis. 

Nitrogen  1.60  to  2  per  cent. 

Phosphoric  acid  7  to  8  per  cent. 

Potash,  2  to  2.75  per  cent. 

Cost,  $30.00  per  ton. 

When  these  percentages  are  multiplied  by  20  we 
obtain  the  number  of  pounds  in  a  ton,  and  when 
further  multiplied  by  the  value  per  pound,  we 
obtain  the  value  on  the  basis  of  a  ton. 

This  is  shown  below : 

Nitrogen    1.60    by    20=  32    lbs.  @  15c.  =$4.80 

Phosphorus     7   by   20=140   lbs.  @   5c.  =    7.00 

Potassium      2    by   20=  40    lbs.  @   5c.  =   2.00 

Commercial  value  per  tor: $13 .  80 


132  COTTON 

No.  2.    Guaranteed  Analysis. 

Nitrogen  2  to  2.75  per  cent. 

Phosphoric  Acid  9  to  11  per  cent. 

Potash  2  to  3  per  cent. 

Cost  per  ton,  $28.00. 

Let  us  calculate  its  value  as  in  the  case  of  No.  1 : 

Nitrogen       2  by  20  =  40  lbs.  @  15c.  =  $6.00 

Phosphorus  9  by  20  =180  lbs.  @    5c.  =     9.00 

Potassium     2  by  20  =  40  lbs.  @    5c.  =     2.00 
Commercial  Value  per  ton $17.00 

In  purchasing  commercial  fertilizers  your  aim 
should  be  to  obtain  the  largest  amount  of  plant 
food  at  least  cost.  In  the  first  fertilizer  $13.80 
worth  of  plant  food  would  cost  you  $30.00  while 
in  the  second  $17.00  worth  would  cost  you  but 
$28 .  00.  The  difference  between  commercial  value 
and  selling  price  is  due  to  the  cost  of  manufacture, 
profits,  agent's  commissions,  etc.  With  the  first 
this  difference  is  $16.20  while  with  the  second  it  is 
but  $12.00, — a  clear  saving  of  $4.20  per  ton,  and 
No.  2  superior  to  the  other  in  every  way,  since  you 
secure  8  pounds  more  of  nitrogen  and  40  more  of 
phosphorus. 

You  will  often  find  printed  on  fertilizer  bags 
analyses  as  follows: 

Ammonia  2  to  3^  per  cent. 

Available  phosphoric  acid  8  to  10  per  cent. 

Total  phosphoric  acid  11  to  14  per  cent. 

Actual  potash  10  per  cent. 

Sulphate  of  potash  18  to  20  per  cent. 

This  reduced  to  its  true  meaning  should  read  as 
follows : 

Nitrogen  1 .  65 

Phosphorus  8 

Potassium  10. 


COTTON  133 

In  most  States,  however,  it  is  now  unlawful — 
and  properly  so — ^for  the  fertilizer  manufacturer 
to  use  the  "sliding  scale"  in  his  printed  analysis; 
only  guaranteed  minimum  figures  are  allowed. 

Ammonia  is  used  in  fertilizers  because  it  sounds 
as  if  a  little  more  nitrogen  was  used,  but  values  are 
estimated  on  basis  of  nitrogen  content.  Remember 
it  is  nitrogen  you  are  after.  Ammonia  can  be 
reduced  to  terms  of  nitrogen  by  multiplying  by 
.824.  In  other  words,  one  pound  of  ammonia 
equals  .  824  pound  nitrogen. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

FARM-MADE  MANURES  I   SAVING  FERTILITY  FOR  THE 
SOIL 

There  is  an  old  saying  that  runs, 
"  No  grass,  no  cattle. 

No  cattle,  no  manure. 

No  manure,  no  grass," 
which  contains  so  much  good  sense  in  a  few  words 
that  it  should  become  a  memory  gem  in  every  rural 
school  in  the  land.  And  it  is  especially  applicable 
to  cotton  growing,  for  cotton  lands  need  manure 
even  to  a  greater  extent  than  grass  does.  Next  to 
tillage  and  good  seed,  farm-made  manures  are  the 
crying  needs  of  the  Cotton  Belt.  These  manures 
will  do  these  things  for  the  soil: 

(1)  Add  plant  food 

(2)  Unlock  stored-up  quantities  of  plant  food 

(3)  Increase  the  humus  content 

(4)  Improve  the  mechanical  condition  of  the 
land. 

The  importance  of  these  factors  in  promoting  the 
crop-producing  efficiency  of  soils  has  been  shown 
in  previous  chapters,  and  will  be  considered  here 
only  as  they  pertain  to  the  production  and  use  of 
farm-made  manures,  for  we  are  concerned  now 
with  the  use  of  additional  plant  food  in  potential 
and  active  forms. 


SOILS  AND  THEIR  IMPROVEMENT. 

A  gullied  old  field  at  the  bottom;  at  the  top  a  field  which  has  kept  its    virgin 
iertility  through  proper  rotation  and  the  growth  of  legumes. 


en  _ 
H  .2 


z  1 


H  ; 

5       3 


o  « 


COTTON  135 

THE  FARM  A  FACTORY  FOR   FARM-MADE  MANURES 

Naturally  every  farm  produces  some  manure. 
But  as  the  factory-farm  is  ordinarily  run,  only  a 
small  quantity  is  annually  produced.  Too  little 
is  made  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  cotton  farm. 
Something  is  wrong  with  the  factory  management, 
else  more  manure  would  be  made. 

Live-stock  increases  the  efficiency  of  the  factory. 
We  will  go  further  and  say  that  live-stock  com- 
bined with  any  system  of  farming  will  lead  not  only 
to  permanent  improvement  of  the  land  but  to  the 
highest  efficiency  in  the  management  of  the  whole 
plant  as  well.  This  suggests  much.  It  means 
diversification;  it  calls  for  a  rotation  of  crops;  it 
increases  the  animal  stock  on  the  farm;  it  demands 
greater  skill  in  management;  it  means  business 
farming.     And  with  it  all,  it  means  manure. 

What  becomes  of  cotton  seed  now  ?  You  bury 
them  in  the  soil  for  fertilizer,  or  you  sell  them ;  but 
how  few  cotton  farmers  feed  them,  and  thereby  get 
two  profits — one  from  feeding  and  one  from  fer- 
tilizing! And  by  neglecting  to  save  one  of  these 
profits  the  Southern  farmer  annually  wastes  enough 
for  a  King's  ransom. 

Plant  food  is  always  disorganized  material. 
Decay  must  come  before  plants  can  feed.  Animals 
on  the  other  hand,  can  use  only  organized  material. 
Hence,  is  it  not  better  to  feed  cotton  seed  or  their 
equivalent  in  meal,  and  get  the  feeding  value  out 
of  them  ?  After  this  they  may  be  returned  to  the 
soil  in  the  form  of  manures.  By  this  practice 
nothing  is  lost  and  much  is  gained.  We  like  to 
buy  fertilizers  in  the  form  of  feeding  stuffs,  pass 
them  to  the  cattle,  and  from  them  back  to  the  soil. 


136  COTTON 

They  provide  a  double  value  for  us,  and  it  is  only 
business  to  take  it. 

The  cotton  farm  should  be  open  to  live-stock, 
then,  and  the  seed  or  meal  produced  on  the  farm 
should  be  consumed  there  by  animals  raised  on  the 
farm.  At  present  the  Cotton  Belt  sends  cotton 
seed  meal  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  which  is  just 
another  way  of  saying  it  ships  away  plant  food  or 
Cotton  Belt  soil  to  all  parts  of  the  world.  Such  a 
practice  leads  to  soil  depletion.  It  may  be  followed 
for  a  great  many  years  without  bringing  its  full 
penalty  on  the  heads  of  those  who  practice  it,  but 
in  the  end  it  means  death  and  destruction  to  the 
land. 

YOU    CAN    MAKE    FARM    MANURES 

You  are  making  some  home-made  manures,  but 
are  you  doing  your  best  in  this  respect? 
What  are  your  teams  doing  during  the  winter 
months  ?  To  be  sure,  most  of  them  are  idle.  But 
they  need  no  rest.  Keep  them  going  the  whole 
winter  long,  some  here,  some  there,  gathering  vege- 
table matter  wherever  it  is  to  be  found.  Haul  this 
in  and  pile  it  deep  under  horse  and  cow,  and  keep 
up  the  work.  It  is  the  medicine  the  cotton  soil 
needs.  No  tonic  will  produce  a  change  so  quickly; 
no  prescription  will  so  rapidly  vitalize  and  build  up 
the  soil  system. 

THE    COMPOST    PILE 

You  can  make  a  compost  pile,  if  you  like. 
Thousands  of  farmers  believe  in  it.  Thousands 
do  not.  It  is  one  of  the  knotty  questions  on  the 
farm.     Perhaps  there  are  two  sides  to  the  question ; 


COTTON  137 

at  least  we  are  willing  to  admit  that  there  are. 
Still  we  prefer  a  direct  application  to  the  field. 

When  you  consider  the  labor  necessary  for  extra 
hauling  and  mixing,  it  is  considerable  after  all. 
How  much  better  it  is  to  use  that  labor  in  the  woods, 
getting  and  hauling  other  quantities  of  leaves  and 
pine  straw  for  the  various  pens,  stalls  and  yards  at 
the  barn. 

We  prefer  to  haul  manure  direct  to  the  field  and 
have  it  mixed  in  the  soil,  so  its  decay  can  take 
place  there,  because  as  a  result  of  chemical  action 
it  will  rot  the  soil  as  it  rots  itself. 

SAVE    THE   MANURE 

The  American  farmer  has  not  yet  become  skilled 
in  saving  manure.  He  is  rather  wasteful  in  most 
things  and  especially  so  with  farm  manure. 
Liquid  from  the  stable  and  yards  runs  away,  be- 
cause of  too  little  bedding  material,  is  leached 
away  in  the  rain,  and  is  lost  never  to  be  recovered. 
Again,  stables  are  cleaned,  manure  is  dumped  out 
of  window  or  door,  exposed  to  sun  and  rain,  and 
gradually  burned  up  or  washed  into  the  stream. 

Do  you  believe  this  ?  Your  own  observation 
will  be  proof  enough. 

The  remedy  lies  in  but  one  direction :  Save  home- 
made manures  and  make  more  the  following  year. 
If  you  have  no  covered  barnyard  or  other  covered 
place  to  keep  it,  haul  direct  to  the  fields. 

This  offers  many  advantages: 

It  enables  you  to  keep  the  stables  clean. 

You  can  do  the  hauling  in  the  winter  when  men 
and  teams  have  little  else  to  do. 

The  soil  itself  is  benefited  by  the  decay  of 
manures  and  is  inclined  to  make  active  its  in- 
soluble plant  food. 


138  COTTON 

Where  this  method  is  practiced,  it  combines  easily 
with  winter  or  cover  crops  like  clover  or  rye,  and  as 
plant  food  is  released  it  is  stored  in  stem,  root,  and 
leaf  of  the  growing  plant,  thus  leaving  a  wealth  of 
plant  food  and  humus  in  the  soil  for  other  crops 
that  come  later. 

GREEN   MANURES 

A  green  crop  plowed  under  offers  another  quick 
way  of  improving  the  productive  power  of  the  soil. 

For  this  work  you  can  use  clover,  rye,  or  cow- 
peas.  Glover  and  cowpeas  are  preferred,  since 
they  add  humus  abundantly,  and  at  the  same  time 
gather  atmospheric  nitrogen  and  store  it  in  the  soil. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

home-mixing  of  cotton  fertilizers  :  saving  the 
manufacturer's  profit 

Home-mixing  of  fertilizers  deserves  much  more 
attention  than  it  receives.  The  fact  that  standard 
brands  may  cost  from  five  to  fifteen  dollars  a  ton 
more  than  the  commercial  value  of  the  several  in- 
gredients of  plant  food;  the  fact  that  fertilizing 
materials  are  standard  articles  of  trade  and  may  be 
purchased  as  such;  and  the  factthatthemany  manu- 
factured brands  are  only  composed  of  materials 
such  as  the  farmer  may  purchase  himself,  all  suggest 
the  wisdom  of  farm-mixing  rather  than  factory- 
mixing. 

The  claim  has  been  constantly  advanced,  but 
principally  by  agents  of  factory-mixed  goods,  that 
home-mixing  is  not  advisable  and  that  the  work 
here  cannot  be  done  properly.  This  claim  is 
altogether  untrue,  so  far  as  the  principle  of  home- 
mixing  goes.  That  some  fertilizing  materials  have 
been  mixed  hastily  and  poorly  on  some  farms, 
we  have  no  doubt:  but  so  has  plowing  on  some 
farms  been  poorly  done;  so  have  seeds  been  im- 
properly selected;  and  so  has  culture  of  the  grow- 
ing crop  often  been  neglected,  or  the  wrong  prin- 
ciples followed.  But  shall  we  abandon  tillage  and 
seed  selection  because  someone  else  is  thoughtless 
or  because  he  fails  ?     Rather,  if  the  principle  is  cor- 


140  COTTON 

rect,  if  the  practice  has  proved  reasonably  success- 
ful and  if  it  is  a  money-saving  method  for  the  farmer, 
it  should  not  only  be  considered  carefully,  but  put 
into  operation  as  quickly  as  means  may  be  found. 
The  first  step  in  home-mixing  is  the  selection  of  the 
materials  to  be  used.  Then  these  must  be  brought 
together,  mixed  and  bagged.  Now  you  can  do 
this  work,  receive  big  wages  for  your  labor,  and  save 
money  besides.  Often  many  farmers  join  to- 
gether and  make  their  purchases.  A  better  rate 
is  usually  obtained,  as  the  cost  for  freight  is  less 
for  a  large  lot  shipped  at  one  time  than  if  several 
lots  are  separately  billed, 

WHEN   AND    HOW   TO   MIX 

The  winter  season  is  usually  the  best  time  for 
mixing  fertilizers,  since  it  enables  you  to  get  your 
materials  together  and  do  the  work  when  labor  is 
available  and  before  you  get  into  the  rush  and  hurry 
of  the  plowing  and  planting  season. 

This  time  is  suggested,  not  because  of  the  great 
amount  of  labor  involved,  or  time  required,  but 
because  it  may  then  be  done  well  without  haste  or 
carelessness. 

To  the  fertilizing  phase  of  cotton  growing  you 
should  indeed  give  the  same  consideration,  in 
reference  to  all  details,  as  you  give  to  seed,  or 
labor,  or  soil  preparation.  Hence  you  should  take 
it  up,  study  it  carefully,  and  be  ready  when  the 
time  for  action  comes. 

An  excellent  place  to  do  this  fertilizer  mixing 
is  a  tight  barn  floor.  There  are  times  in  winter 
when  this  can  be  given  over  a  few  days  to  this  work 
without  greatly  interfering  with  feeding  or  any  of 
the  other  uses  of  the  barn.     You   will,  however. 


COTTON  141 

find  the  wagon  box  as  suitable,  and  many  people 
prefer  it. 

In  mixing,  spread  the  materials  over  the  floor 
to  the  depth  of  five  to  ten  inches,  putting  the  bulk- 
iest fertilizer  first;  on  top  of  this,  spread  layers  of 
the  remaining  materials ;  and  then  mix  thoroughly, 
shoveling  over  several  times.  When  a  great  many 
tons  are  to  be  mixed  this  operation  will  need  to  be 
repeated  often  and  the  material  bagged  as  mixed. 
In  case  you  find  any  unmixed  material  has  become 
hard  and  lumpy  in  the  sacks,  first  put  it  in  a  sepa- 
rate pile  and  break  up  finely  with  a  maul  or  shovel. 
This  done,  it  is  ready  for  the  mixing  pile  to  be 
handled  as  described  above. 

WHAT   KINDS   TO    USE 

You  will,  of  course,  decide  what  materials  you 
wish  to  use,  and  in  doing  this  you  should  be  gov- 
erned by  the  commercial  value  rather  than  by  the 
name.  The  State  Experiment  Station  will  assist 
you  in  suggesting  a  formula  to  use  and  the  materi- 
als to  buy. 

Here  are  a  few  general  suggestions  it  is  well  to 
bear  in  mind  in  doing  the  work: 

1.  Nitrate  of  soda  is  immediately  available  when 
mixed  with  the  soil.  Therefore  it  should  furnish 
no  more  than  one-third  or  one-half  of  the  nitrog- 
enous part  of  the  fertilizer. 

2.  Sulphate  of  ammonia  is  open  to  the  same 
objection  as  nitrate  of  soda,  but  to  a  smaller  de- 
gree. 

3.  Cottonseed  meal  decays  slowly,  and  at  the 
price  for  which  it  can  be  bought  at  present,  may 
be  used  with  economy  as  a  nitrogen  carrier. 


142  COTTON 

4.  Acid  phosphate  is  usually  our  most  economical 
carrier  of  phosphorus. 

5.  Muriate  of  potash  is  an  economical  carrier  of 
potassium. 

6.  Kainit,  which  contains  only  one-fourth  of  the 
quantity  of  potassium  found  in  muriate,  is  usually 
preferred  in  cotton  manures  because  it  is  believed 
to  be  beneficial  in  warding  off  rust. 

7.  Nitrogen  is  especially  concerned  with  the 
growth  of  leaves  and  stems.  If  your  cotton  leaves 
and  stems  have  been  small,  therefore,  and  the 
nitrogen  supply  in  the  soil  has  not  been  increased 
by  the  growth  of  some  leguminous  crop,  it  would 
be  well  to  increase  the  nitrogen  content  of  the 
formula  you  select.  On  the  other  hand  with 
marked  growth  of  leaf  and  stem,  the  quantity  of 
nitrogen  in  any  formula  may  be  decreased  or  alto- 
gether abandoned. 

8.  When  cotton  follows  clover,  cowpeas,  or  other 
legumes,  little  or  no  nitrogen  will  be  required  in 
the  fertilizer. 

9.  When  stem  and  leaf  growth  are  abundant,  but 
yield  of  seed  and  lint  below  what  it  should  be, 
phosphorus  and  potassium — especially  the  former 
— are  needed. 

10.  In  a  general  way,  on  average  cotton  soils 
the  best  results  are  obtained  when  nitrogen,  phos- 
phorus, and  potassium  are  combined  in  the  propor- 
tion of  about  three  or  three  and  one  half  parts 
phosphorus,  one  part  nitrogen  and  one  part 
potassium — unless  the  nitrogen  be  already  sup- 
plied by  leguminous  crops. 

THE    FORMULA    TO    USE 

It  is  impossible  to  suggest  a  formula,  or  even 


COTTON  143 

many  formulae,  that  will  meet  all  conditions  of 
soil  and  culture.  You  must  work  out  this  problem 
by  personal  investigation  and  experiment  if  you 
desire  to  solve  it  with  any  degree  of  satisfaction. 
Formulae  should  differ  with  different  seasons,  dif- 
ferent soils,  different  farms.  Only  the  general 
average  can  be  considered  here. 

COMPOST   MANURES 

No.  1.      Green  Cotton  Seed 100    bushels 

Stable  Manure 100     bushels 

Acid  Phosphate 2000    pounds 

No.  2.      Barnyard  Manure 1750    pounds 

Acid  Phosphate 200    pounds 

Kainit 50    pounds 

2000     pounds 

No.  3.      Barnyard  Manure 1225  pounds 

Cotton   Seed 400  pounds 

Acid  phosphate 300  pounds 

Kainit 75  pounds 

2000    pounds 

HOME-MADE    CHEMICAL   MANURES 

No.  1.      Acid  phosphate 1100    pounds 

Cotton  Seed  Meal 700    pounds 

Kainit 200    pounds 


Total 2000    pound 


lU  COTTON 

No.  2.      Acid  Phosphate 1000  pounds 

Cotton  Seed  Meal 600  pounds 

Nitrate  of  Soda 100  pounds 

Kainit 300  pounds 

Total 2000  pounds 

No.  3.     Acid  Phosphate 850  pounds 

Fish  Scrap 700  pounds 

Kainit 450  pounds 

Total 2000  pounds 


THE  QUANTITY  YOU  SHALL  USE 

The  quantity  of  fertilizer  to  use  per  acre  will 
depend  upon  the  following  conditions: 

Producing  power  of  the  land 

Preparation  that  has  been  given  the  land 

Kind  of  crop  grown  the  previous  year 

Richness   of  fertilizer 

Previous  treatment  of  the  soil 

Kind  of  season. 

By  your  own  judgment  you  will  have  to  deter- 
mine the  quantity  to  use  per  acre.  Learn  your 
soil  by  careful  observation,  study  and  experimenta- 
tion year  after  year.  All  the  way  from  200  to  1000 
pounds  of  fertilizer  are  now  used  per  acre.  What 
is  best  for  your  soil  and  conditions  lies  doubtless 
within  these  limits. 

Try  the  following  plan  of  questioning  your  own 
land,  and  the  answers  will  be  far  more  valuable  to 
you  than  any  foreign  advice : 

Choose  a  small  area  that  is  reasonably  typical  of 


COTTON  145 

your  land,  and  which  will  contain  ten  rows  of  any 
length  desired. 

On  rows  1  and  2,  use  200  pounds  per  acre. 

On  rows  3  and  4,  use  400  pounds  per  acre. 

On  rows  5  and  6,  use  600  pounds  per  acre. 

On  rows  7  and  8,  use  800  pounds  per  acre. 

On  rows  9  and  10,  use  1000  pounds  per  acre. 
In  cultivating,  treat  all  soils  alike  and  give  each 
the  same  treatment  as  you  give  the  remainder  of 
the  field.  Carefully  observe  the  plots  during  the 
growing  season  and  at  picking  time  estimate 
yields.  The  results  cannot  fail  to  be  helpful  in  de- 
ciding what  kinds  of  plant  food  your  land  needs 
and  in  what  quantities  each  element  is  needed. 

WHAT    WE    MUST   DO 

So  much  is  involved  in  fertilizing  land  that  each 
of  us  will  have  to  study  his  individual  problems 
year  in  and  year  out,  that  help  may  come  to  each 
of  us  in  knowing  how  to  manage  lands  and  how  to 
maintain  their  fertility,  wisely  and  judiciously. 

That  we  may  have  a  few  general  principles  to 
guide  us  along  our  immediate  course,  the  following 
general  suggestions  are  offered : 

1.  Judicious  fertilization  increases  the  profitable- 
ness of  cotton  farming. 

2.  Fertilizers  wisely  used  hasten  the  maturity  of 
the  crop. 

3.  Fertilizers  pay  best  on  land  in  good  mechani- 
cal condition. 

4.  Fertilizers  respond  best  for  cotton  when  used 
in  connection  with  leguminous  crops. 

5.  A  complete  fertilizer  pays  best  on  old  lands. 
Where  legumes  are  used  or  stable  manure,  the 
nitrogen  content  may  be  decreased  or  omitted 
entirely. 


146  COTTON 

6.  When  fertilizers  are  used  in  small  quantities, 
apply  in  the  drill  and  mix  well  with  the  soil. 
When  500  to  1000  pounds  are  used,  apply  broad- 
cast or  make  two  applications. 

7.  Home-mixing  of  fertilizers  is  the  wisest  prac- 
tice to  follow. 

8.  Adjust  the  quantities  of  nitrogen,  phosphorus 
and  potassium  as  the  soil  calls  for  change  due  to 
better  tillage  or  as  increased  quantities  of  humus 
and  organic  matter  are  added  to  the  soil. 

9.  Broadcast  barnyard  manure  on  winter-grow- 
ing crops  or  compost  with  cottonseed,  acid  phos- 
phate, and  kainit. 

10.  Experiment  with  your  own  soil  and  forget 
not  its  teachings.  This  will  help  you  with  every 
crop  that  follows. 


MODERN  COTTON  MAKING. 

Breaking  the  land  with  three-horse   plows,  and   shallow   and  level    cultivation 


growing  crop. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


THE   COTTON   FARMER  S   EQUIPMENT  OF  TOOLS 

It  is  doubtful  if  any  factor  has  contributed 
more  to  the  advancement  and  progress  of  Amer- 
ican agriculture  than  the  improvement  of  farm  im- 
plements and  machinery.  When  one  contem- 
plates the  enormous  yields  of  American  corn,  wheat, 
cotton,  oats,  potatoes  and  other  crops,  he  is  struck 
with  wonder  and  amazement.  What  a  record  our 
farmers  have  made !  But  have  you  thought  of  the 
debt  we  owe  to  inventors  and  to  makers  of  tools 
and  implements,  without  which  these  tremendous 
yields  would  be  impossible  ? 

Unfortunately  for  him,  the  cotton  farmer  has  not 
had  such  advantages  as  his  brother  farmers  in  the 
use  of  labor-saving  machines  and  tools.  On  far 
too  many  farms  their  use  is  limited  indeed,  and 
often  we  find  only  the  one-horse  plow  and  the  hoe. 
Cotton  farming  can  never  be  profitable  where  this 
is  true.  The  use  of  inefficient  tools  also  means 
an  economic  policy  at  variance  with  the  advance- 
ment and  progress  of  civilization,  since  it  restricts 
the  possibilities  of  land  and  labor,  and  decreases 
their  potential  contribution  to  the  human  race. 

But  where  these  old  fashioned  methods  exist,  they 
are  now  fast  giving  way  to  improvements,  making 
the  culture  of  cotton  less  laborious,  less  costly,  and 

(147) 


148  COTTON 

the  field  at  the  same  time  more  productive,  thereby 
making  cotton  growing  far  more  remunerative. 

Cotton  farming  calls  for  the  same  variety  of 
labor-saving  tools  and  devices  as  does  the  production 
of  any  other  kind  of  crop.  As  a  rule,  the  principal 
difference  in  the  equipment  of  large  and  small 
farms  is  in  number  of  tools,  rather  than  in  kind, 
size,  or  efficiency. 

For  the  information  of  the  reader  unacquainted 
with  terms  commonly  used  in  the  Cotton  Belt,  let 
us  say  that  "one-horse  farm"  or  "one-horse 
farmer"  is  not  meant  to  express  derision  of  the  in- 
dividual, nor  does  it  refer  to  social  standing.  The 
term  means,  on  the  other  hand,  just  what  it  says :  a 
one-horse  farm  on  which  all  labor  is  done  by  a 
single  animal.  The  owner  may  be  a  one-horse 
farmer,  and  at  the  same  time  stand  high  in  the  com- 
munity, and  have  a  good  store  of  worldly  goods. 
But  the  value  in  land  and  equipment  of  a  ten-horse 
farm  in  cotton  production  is  just  ten  times  that 
of  a  one-horse  farm. 

And  of  what  does  this  equipment  consist.^ 
Land,  feed,  stock,  tools,  implements,  etc.  Since 
the  one-horse  plow  is  the  important  implement  of 
the  one-horse  farm,  and  since  it  is  so  commonly 
used  on  both  small  farms  and  large  plantations,  it 
may  be  called  the  typical  tool  of  the  Cotton  Belt. 
To  be  sure,  two-horse  and  even  three-horse  plows 
are  used;  the  sub-soil  plow  occasionally  has  work 
to  do;  the  disk  harrow,  the  roller,  the  cultivator, 
are  now  generally  known,  but  the  "Dixie"  plow 
is  the  one  tool  that  in  a  measure  does  the  work  of  all 
these  and  which  finds  employment  on  every  farm, 
regardless  of  its  size  or  the  wealth  or  standing  of  its 
owner.  It  serves  as  soil-breaker,  soil-pulverizer 
and  cultivator  for  weed  destruction  and  winter 


COTTON  149 

plowing,  and  is  known  in  all  States  and  sections 
where  cotton  is  grown. 

In  spite  of  the  popular  favor  in  which  this  tool  is 
held,  it  neither  merits  it,  nor  is  its  use  in  keeping 
with  the  progress  now  manifest  along  other  lines  of 
cotton  culture. 

THE    KIND    OF    PLOW   WE    WANT 

In  the  first  place,  the  effective  plow  must  so  throw 
the  slice  ripped  from  the  furrow  as  to  cover  all 
manure,  trash  or  green  crops  on  the  land.  To  do 
this  it  must  turn  the  slice  entirely  over  or  set  it  well 
on  edge.  If  it  does  either  of  these  things  for  you 
the  first  aim  is  achieved. 

In  the  second  place,  the  plow  should  go  deep  into 
the  ground.  This  must  be  done  for  two  reasons : 
First,  deep  plowing  enables  the  soil  to  drink  in  and 
hold  more  water  against  a  day  of  drought;  second, 
deep  plowing  gives  cotton  roots  a  wider  pasture. 

In  the  third  place,  the  effective  plow  must  pul- 
verize the  slice  it  throws  out.  It  is  not  enough 
that  your  plow  turn  the  soil;  it  must  break,  fine 
and  mellow  it. 

A  plow  that  does  not  do  these  things  is  a  poor 
plow.  Measure  your  one-horse  plows  by  this 
standard  and  you  readily  see  why  the  greater  num- 
ber of  them  should  be  thrown  with  your  pile  of 
scrap  iron,  and  from  there  carried  to  the  junk  shop 
to  be  melted  and  remade  into  larger  and  more 
effective  tools. 

The  one-horse  plow  is  sometimes  defended  on 
the  ground  of  economy.  Really,  however,  it  is  not 
an  economical  plow.  The  two-horse  walking  plow 
will  not  only  prepare  cotton  lands  better,  but  will 


150  COTTON 

do  as  much  work  as  two    one-horse  plows  and 
thereby  save  you  the  labor  of  one  man. 

Where  money  is  scarce  or  where  labor  is  also 
scarce  or  insufficient,  it  is  always  economy  to  use 
the  best  tools  on  the  market.  The  two-horse  walking 
plow  or  the  two-horse  sulky  plow  ought  soon  to 
find  a  place  on  even  the  smallest  farms.  The 
disk  plow  has  already  been  used  on  some  cotton 
farms.  It  pulverizes  well,  and  covers  in  an  effec- 
tive manner,  and  goes  deep  into  the  soil.  It  is 
not  practicable,  however,  for  use  in  stony  lands. 

TOOLS  FOR  COMPLETING  THE  SEED  BED 

The  harrow  follows  the  plow.  Commonly  this 
tool  is  used  in  connection  with  the  roller  to  com- 

Elete  that  pulverization  of  the  soil  which  has  been 
egun  by  the  plow.  And  this  is  necessary.  You 
have  observed  that  the  cloddy  spots,  even  in 
fertile  fields,  make  a  poor  harvest.  In  these 
places  bad  mechanical  condition  of  the  soil  forbids 
it  holding  moisture,  hardens  up  plant  food,  and  so 
brings  about  lack  of  fruitfulness.  The  harrow  and 
the  roller  will  correct  this  trouble.  A  single  kind  of 
harrow  will  not  do  for  all  soils  nor  for  all  seasons  of 
the  year. 

A  fine  peg-tooth  smoothing  harrow  should  find  a 
place  on  every  cotton  farm.  It  levels  the  land  and 
disintegrates  the  larger  particles  of  the  soil.  You 
may  use  it  also  to  advantage  in  harrowing  cotton 
after  planting. 

The  spring- tooth  harrow  you  should  have  also. 
It  comes  in  nicely  where  you  have  leveling  and 
smoothing  to  do,  or  where  a  heavy  rain  has  com- 
pacted the  surface  too  much  just  before  planting 
time. 


COTTON  151 

In  addition  to  these  you  should  have  either  a 
disk  or  cutaway  harrow,  for  crushing  and  for  com- 
pleting the  pulverization  begun  by  the  plow. 

Where  clods  are  left  on  top  of  the  soil,  the 
wooden  drag  or  roller  will  be  the  next  implement  to 
use.  The  wooden  drag  grinds  the  clods  and 
lumps,  and  is  also  a  good  implement  for  leveling 
purposes. 

The  fertilizer  distributor  is  another  economical 
tool,  doing  its  work  evenly  and  satisfactorily. 

Following  the  fertilizer  distributor  comes  the 
cotton  planter,  and  drops  the  seed  in  a  continuous 
chain.  While  our  planter  as  now  used  serves  its 
purpose,  it  is  far  from  being  ideal.  It  must  do 
better  work.  It  is  not  enough  to  drop  the  seed;  it 
must  drop  the  right  quantity  and  in  the  place 
where  wanted.  When  this  end  is  achieved,  seed 
will  be  tested  for  vitality  and  germinating  power, 
and  the  planter  regulated  for  dropping  seeds  to 
suit  the  requirements  of  each  particular  soil. 

This  will  largely  do  away  with  "chopping,"  now 
a  laborious  and  costly  burden  to  the  cotton  farmer. 

The  cultivating  tools  required  in  cotton  culture 
serve  three  purposes:  they  kill  weeds,  provide  a 
mulch  so  as  to  conserve  the  moisture  in  the  soil, 
and  release  plant  food. 

The  old  one-shovel  plow  is  fast  giving  away  to  the 
shallow  cultivator  with  several  shovels. 

And  the  one-horse  plow — do  you  use  it  for  cul- 
tivating purposes  ?  Up  and  down  the  row  it  goes, 
breaking  roots,  increasing  labor  bills,  lessening 
profits.  Let  us  again  express  the  hope  that  im- 
proved cultivating  tools  will  soon  replace  it 
throughout  the  South. 

For  the  early  work  of  cultivating  young  cotton 
plants,  perhaps  no  implement  is  more  useful  than 


152  COTTON 

the  weeder.  It  runs  shallow;  its  many  teeth  des- 
troy or  cover  all  weeds;  it  thins  the  cotton;  its 
complete  soil-stirring  makes  a  fairly  effective 
mulch.  You  can  use  the  weeder  two  or  three 
times  in  cultivating  the  cotton  crop,  and  if  you  do 
not  have  it,  then  use  the  smoothing  harrow. 

We  have  many  kinds  of  cultivators :  some  single, 
others  double;  some  are  shallow-goers  while  others 
creep  along  the  surface  slightly  deeper.  All  of  our 
improved  cultivators  are  good.  Do  not  hesitate  in 
securing  such  as  are  needed,  for  they  will  quickly 
repay  their  cost  in  increased  returns. 

And  finally,  the  hoe :  is  it  needed  ? 

Once  it  was  thought  that  every  gentleman 
needed  a  sword,  then  a  pistol.  We  may  have  use 
even  today  for  the  pistol  and  sword,  but  not  for 
everyday  clothes.  So  we  have  use  for  the  hoe  in 
cotton  culture,  but  not  until  after  the  weeder  and 
fine-tooth  harrow  have  done  their  work.  In  some 
fields,  some  seasons,  the  hoe  may  be  needed  until 
the  perfect  planter  comes;  until  cultural  methods 
are  more  studied;  then  the  hoe  may  go,  with 
knighthood  and  chivalry,  and  be  one  of  the  things 
of  memory. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

CULTURE  FROM  SEED  TO  BOLL 

In  the  romance  of  cotton  the  climax  is  reached 
in  that  scene  which  has  to  do  with  its  culture.  All 
that  has  come  before  is  concerned  with  stage  set- 
tings properly  to  introduce  the  chief  actor,  and 
what  follows  in  the  disposition  of  the  crop  is  but 
the  natural  conclusion  expected  before  the  final 
curtain  falls.  In  this  growing  scene  the  seeds 
awake  from  their  sleep  in  the  soil,  the  tiny  two- 
leaved  plants  peep  through  their  surface  screen 
and  come  forth  into  sunlight  and  growth,  now  to 
engage  the  attention  of  a  vast  army  of  men  and 
women  through  long  months  of  watchfulness  and 
care. 

THE  BED  IS  MADE 

Sometime  before  planting  time  the  land  is 
"bedded  up"  as  a  final  preparation  for  the  seed. 
This  custom  seems  to  be  almost  an  universal 
practice,  wherever  cotton  is  grown.  While  it 
involves  extra  time  and  labor,  its  warming  influence 
on  the  soil,  especially  in  cool  or  wet  weather, 
is  sufficiently  helpful  to  modify  any  objection  to 
the  practice. 

The  plan  of  bedding  up  is  this:  the  row  is 
opened  and  in  it  the  manure  is  placed  (or  if  a 
fertilizer  drill  is  used,  the  work  is  done  by  a  single 
operation) ;  then  the  plow  is  run  back  and  forth, 

(153) 


154.  COTTON 

heaping  the  top  soil  to  the  center,  which  leaves 
the  row  two  to  three  inches  higher  than  the  soil 
on  either  side  of  and  between  the  rows. 

In  bedding  up  many  people  who  grow  cotton 
wisely  include  simple  tillage  operations  as  well.  It 
is  not  enough  to  make  the  bed  only;  the  entire 
surface  of  the  soil  must  be  plowed  and  then 
harrow^ed  and  re-harrowed  until  the  ideal  seed  bed 
is  obtained.  Only  when  this  is  done  are  you 
ready  for  bedding  up  the  land.  A  week,  perhaps 
a  longer  time,  now  passes  before  seeds  are  planted. 
But  what  of  weeds  and  grass .?  Now  don't 
deceive  yourself,  for  they  are  the  ever  present 
enemy  of  cotton,  and  unless  you  wage  war  early 
and  fiercely,  your  cotton  crop  will  be  sorely 
troubled,  if  not  permanently  injured.  Your  best 
weapon  for  some  time  on  will  be  a  light,  fine-tooth 
harrow  or  weeder.  This  will  not  only  destroy 
millions  of  weeds  and  grass  seed  that  are  germi- 
nating and  fast  gaining  foothold  at  the  surface  of 
the  soil,  but  will  prove  the  very  tool  needed  for 
conserving  the  moisture  in  the  land.  Team  labor 
expended  at  this  time  of  the  year  is  hand  labor 
saved  later  on  in  the  season. 


DISTANCE   BETWEEN   ROWS   AND    PLANTS 

You  already  know  that  rich  lands  require  less 
seed  and  a  fewer  number  of  plants  than  do  thin 
and  infertile  soils.  Why.?  Because  fertile  soils 
naturally  produce  heavier  and  larger  cotton  stalks, 
which  naturally  call  for  fewer  plants  to  the  acre, 
and  greater  distance  between  them  in  the  row. 

Four  feet  is  the  usually  accepted  distance 
between  rows,   although  on  the  lighter  kinds  of 


COTTON  155 

soil  three  or  three  and  a  half  feet  are   popular 
distances. 

The  distance  between  plants  in  the  same  row 
may  be  safely  placed  at  twenty  to  twenty-four 
inches  for  good  soils,  and  twelve  to  sixteen  inches 
for  poor  ones.  Where  either  the  variety  or  the 
soil  tends  to  make  larger  cotton  stalks,  thus  re- 
quiring more  space,  rows  may  be  widened  to 
five  feet  and  the  row  space  extended  to  from 
twenty-four  to  thirty  inches. 

WHEN  TO  PLANT 

Nearly  three  months  are  included  in  the  planting 
limit  for  the  Cotton  Belt.  Each  section  has  its 
own  extremes.  These  are  influenced  by  conditions 
of  soil  and  climate,  and  consequently  vary  ma- 
terially. The  table  below  suggests  the  commence- 
ment of  planting  time : 

Southern  Texas, March     1 

Eastern  Texas, March  15 

Louisiana, .  .  .  1^" March  15 

Southern  Mississippi, March  20 

South  Carolina  Coast, March  25 

Mississippi  Bottoms, April        1 

Middle  Texas, April        1 

Arkansas, April        5 

North  Carolina,  , April     20 

South  Carolina, April      20 

Georgia, April     20 

These  dates  suggest  when  planting  may  com- 
mence, but  represent  one  extreme.  The  limited 
variation  of  every  section  is  sufficient  properly  to 
plant  the  crop.  When  the  ground  becomes  warm 
enough  to  favor  germination,  and  is  properly 
prepared,  you  may  begin  your  seeding.     Earlier 


156  COTTON 

than  this,  while  the  ground  is  cool,  or  before  the 
season  has  advanced  far  enough  for  the  cotton 
plant  to  bask  in  its  loved  sunshine,  the  crop  will 
make  little  progress,  even  if  germination  itself  is 
not  seriously  hindered  by  the  low  temperature. 
Some  good  farmers  prefer  to  fertilize  rather  heavily, 
delay  planting,  and  wait  for  decidedly  warm 
weather,  so  as  to  rush  the  crop  ahead  of  grass  and 
weeds.  If  for  this  or  any  other  reason  you  should 
postpone  seeding  until  toward  the  end  of  the 
planting  season,  however,  it  will  be  safer  to  plant 
seed  somewhat  deeper,  and  if  weather  is  dry,  you 
should  roll  the  land  as  well. 

Early  maturity  of  the  crop  does  not  depend  so 
much  upon  time  of  planting  as  it  does  on  the 
early-maturing  qualities  of  the  variety.  Even 
with  late  planting,  if  you  have  proper  fertilization 
and  good  preparation  of  soil,  you  will  secure  better 
results  than  where  the  opposite  conditions  have 
prevailed. 

PUTTING  FERTILIZERS   INTO  THE    SOIL 

When  two  or  three  hundred  pounds  of  fertilizers 
are  used,  seed  may  be  planted  without  mixing  the 
fertilizer  with  the  soil.  Where  more  than  this 
amount  is  used,  it  seems  desirable  to  apply  it  in  the 
bed  or  mix  it  with  the  soil  by  means  of  the  scooter 
plow. 

Heavy  applications  justify  a  different  procedure. 
If  placed  in  the  center  furrow,  the  fertilizer  should 
be  incorporated  thoroughly  with  the  land.  Ex- 
periments seem  to  indicate  that  where  as  much  as  a 
thousand  pounds  are  applied,  it  is  preferable  to 
side  list  or  broadcast  at  least  one-half  of  the  quantity. 


COTTON  157 

using  the  remaining  half  in  the  center  furrow. 
Double  doses  of  fertilizers  pay  only  where  con- 
siderable quantities  are  used.  For  the  dose  as 
usually  given,  a  single  application  is  suflScient  and 
this  is  best  applied  in  the  bedding-up  process. 

THE    FIRST    CULTIVATION 

A  few  months  ago  we  visited  a  cotton  plantation 
which  had  received  considerable  local  mention 
because  of  its  excellence.  About  one  hundred 
acres  of  the  plantation  were  devoted  to  cotton, 
and  at  the  time  of  our  visit  the  crop  indicated  a 
yield  of  nearly  two  bales  to  the  acre. 

"  When  did  you  begin  the  culture  of  this  cotton  ?'* 
we  asked  the  owner. 

"Well,  sir,  I  began  to  cultivate  that  cotton 
before  it  was  planted, "  he  quickly  replied. 

"The  crop  is  certainly  a  fine  one,"  some  one 
remarked,  "and  not  only  that,  but  I  see  it  is  grown 
on  very  ordinary  land.  How  do  you  account  for 
the  better  appearance  of  your  cotton  as  compared 
with  all  these  other  fields  around  here  ?  " 

"  Simply  by  good  tillage  (for  I  never  use  a  one- 
horse  plow) ;  by  making  use  of  all  vegetable  matter 
I  can  find  in  the  woods  and  on  the  farm;  by 
careful  selection  of  seed;  and  by  careful  cultivation 
throughout  the  whole  growing  season,  and  es- 
pecially before  the  crop  is  planted. " 

The  excellence  of  the  crop  truly  was  manifest. 
We  have  heard  since  that  this  good  farmer  had 
produced  even  more  than  his  estimate  that  day — he 
made  a  total  crop  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-four 
bales. 

His  philosophy  is  in  keeping  with  the  facts  sug- 
gested by  the  study  and  research  of  our  cotton 


158  COTTON 

investigators.  He  is  successful,  of  course.  He 
follows  modern  methods,  and  reads  about  and 
studies  his  business. 

AT    CHOPPING    TIME 

The  imperfect  method  of  planting  cotton  makes 
work  with  the  hoe  necessary  in  order  to  secure  a 
proper  stand  and  correct  the  excessively  large 
number  of  plants  to  the  acre.  The  present-day 
planter  drops  seed  in  a  continuous  chain,  using 
from  ten  to  fifteen  times  as  many  seeds  as  are 
needed.  To  get  rid  of  these  extra  plants  and  so  to 
thin  them  in  the  row  that  the  desired  number  only 
shall  be  left,  calls  for  the  practice  of  "  chopping. "  ^ 

As  young  cotton  plants  slowly  come  out  of  their 
beds  in  the  ground  and  raise  their  little  bodies 
into  air  and  sunlight,  the  laborer  comes  into  the 
field  "to  chop"  the  cotton  and  arrange  it  in  an 
orderly  manner  for  the  growing  campaign  now 
before  it. 

As  a  rule  now,  all  planters  chop  their  cotton,  but 
when  a  more  perfect  planter  comes  this  will  not  be 
so  necessary.  A  few  good  farmers,  even  now  are 
depending  less  on  the  hoe  and  more  on  the  weeder 
and  harrow  for  this  work.  Either  one  or  both  of 
these  tools  when  run  a  couple  of  times  crosswise 
across  the  rows  do  rather  effective  work  in  thin- 
ning the  crop;  and  at  the  same  time  the  practice 
warms  the  soil,  mellows  the  surface,  destroys  weeds 
and  grass,  and  puts  the  land  into  good  physical 
condition  for  the  growing  crop. 

The  first  step  in  cotton  culture  then  is  this  early 
work  with  the  weeder,  or  peg-tooth  harrow.  It  is, 
in  fact,  the  most  important  ever  made,  surpassing 
in  value  all  subsequent  workings. 


COTTON  159 

OTHER  STEPS  IN  COTTON  CULTURE 

While  cotton  moves  slowly  during  its  early 
stages  of  growth,  when  it  once  takes  root  firmly — 
and  it  always  means  business  if  the  soil  is  right  and 
warm  and  moist — its  roots  go  eagerly  into  the 
ground,  searching  in  all  directions  for  plant  food 
and  water.  While  the  roots  are  thus  foraging 
around,  growing,  spreading,  and  lengthening,  the 
plant  above  the  ground  is  not  standing  still.  We 
grant  that  at  times,  especially  when  the  land  is  not 
congenial  because  of  poor  preparation,  coldness, 
or  much  rain,  cotton  plants  seemingly  hesitate,  or 
at  least  move  but  slowly  in  their  upward  course. 
And  yet  can  you  blame  them  ?  Do  you  wonder 
they  move  so  slowly, — tender  and  weak  as  they  are 
with  dangers  all  about  them  ?  Opposed  to  cold  by 
nature,  they  suffer.  Then,  too,  greedy  weeds  and 
grass  continually  menace  and  threaten  them 
throughout  the  entire  season;  so  unless  you  care 
for  them  while  young  and  tender,  and  even  stay 
closely  by,  they  lose  courage  and  fail  to  meet 
your  expectations  at  harvest  time. 

When  plants  are  about  three  or  four  inches  in 
height,  the  cultivating  plow  may  be  started.  The 
hoe  may  now  be  laid  aside,  and  the  cultivator 
pressed  into  service  to  do  what  work  is  left  until 
the  maturity  of  the  crop. 

You  will  act  wisely  if  you  get  good  tools  for 
cultivating.  The  modern  cultivator  with  its  many 
shovels  does  the  work  well,  and  cheaply. 

But  the  plow — the  one-horse  plow — is  not  the 
tool  for  the  cultivating  season ;  better  leave  it  under 
the  apple  tree  or  in  the  stable  for  the  chickens  to 
roost  upon  than  bring  it  into  the  cotton  field; 
for  it  is  not  a  cultivating  tool  for  cotton  or  for  any 


160  COTTON 

other  crop  where  inter-culture  is  necessary.  One 
objection  to  the  one-horse  plow  is  that  it  runs 
down  into  the  soil  where  the  feeding  roots  are,  and 
there  it  does  positive  harm,  for  it  injures  some 
roots,  ruins  a  great  number  of  others,  and  con- 
sequently lessens  the  feeding  ability  of  the  plant. 

But  that  other  phase:  that  important  question  of 
labor!  Have  you  thought  how  expensive  the  one- 
horse  plow  is  as  a  cultivating  tool  ?  A  man  and  a 
horse!  Up  and  down  the  row,  once,  twice,  three 
times,  and  even  four  times,  to  do  work  which  might 
be  done — and  done  well — in  half  the  time  and  with 
half  the  labor  if  a  really  good  cultivating  tool  were 
employed. 

HOW   DEEP    SHALL    WE    CULTIVATE .? 

The  point  in  this:  Roots  serve  as  supports  for 
the  plant  and  hold  it  in  the  soil ;  they  get  the  mois- 
ture and  food  for  its  growth.  All  are  needed  for 
work.  In  the  life  of  the  plant  the  surface-feeders 
have  their  work  to  do,  work  of  just  as  great  impor- 
tance as  that  done  by  those  which  creep  down  into 
lower  depths,  where  harm  is  further  removed. 

But  suppose  you  cultivate  deeply,  as  is  the  com- 
mon practice.  What  then.?  Just  what  we  have 
already  said — the  roots  are  torn  away  and  the  feed- 
ing ability  of  the  plant  is  lessened  and  permanently 
injured. 

It  follows  then  that  cultivation  should  be  shal- 
low. One  inch  or  two,  just  deep  enough  to  do  good 
work,  is  what  we  want.  If  you  think  you  must 
cultivate  more  deeply  than  this,  let  the  work  be 
done  in  the  season  while  the  plants  are  still  young 
and  before  their  roots  have  extended  out  in  all 
directions. 


COTTON  161 

WHERE     YOU     FIND     THE     LATERAL     ROOTS 

An  examination  of  cotton  roots  as  they  grow  in 
the  field  will  indicate  many  things  helpful  during 
the  cultural  season,  and  show  how  essential  it  is 
not  to  go  deep  into  the  soil  with  the  cultivator. 
The  growing  habits  of  cotton  roots  have  been  given 
a  good  deal  of  study,  and  this  knowledge  ought  to 
be  used  to  advantage  in  the  culture  of  the  crop.  In 
South  Carolina,  for  instance,  "it  has  been  observed 
that  most  of  the  lateral  roots  commenced  about 
three  inches  below  the  surface,  and  never  went 
below  the  upper  nine  inches  of  soil."  At  the  Ala- 
bama Station  similar  observations  were  made. 
"In  a  soil  of  sandy  drift  and  pebbles"  a  young  cot- 
ton plant  three  and  one-fourth  inches  high  was 
found  having  a  lateral  root  over  three  feet  in  length, 
the  end  of  the  root  being  only  three  inches  from  the 
surface.  The  position  of  the  roots  suggested  to 
this  experimenter  that  "the  usual  deep  cultivation 
would  have  destroyed  four-fifths  of  the  lateral  roots 
which  extended  at  right  angles  to  the  row." 

Many  experiments  made  in  respect  to  inter-cul- 
ture make  out  a  strong  case  as  to  the  superiority  of 
shallow  over  deep  cultivation.  These  tests  extend 
over  a  period  of  several  years,  and  have  to  do  with 
conditions  in  several  States.  Only  two  instances 
are  on  record  in  which  shallow  culture  failed  to  af- 
ford a  larger  yield  than  deep  culture. 

HOW   OFTEN   TO    CULTIVATE 

Early  culture,  if  well  done,  plays  havoc  with 
grass  and  weeds.  And  since  to  rid  land  of  these  is 
the  first  of  the  reasons  why  we  cultivate,  it  follows 
that  if  they  are  kept  in  check  early  in  the  season, 


162  COTTON 

less  effort  and  labor  later  on  will  be  required  to  com- 
plete the  work.  Then  culture  is  given  also  to  break 
the  surface  crust  that  forms  after  each  rain,  so  as 
to  conserve  moisture  and  blanket  the  ground  with 
a  mulch  of  fine  dry  soil.  If  rains  come  often,  we 
need  to  cultivate  often;  if  weeds  and  grass  persist 
in  presenting  themselves,  then  we  must  keep  the 
cultivator  going,  in  order  to  disappoint  them  and 
prove  ourselves  masters  of  the  situation.  Then 
too,  if  dry  weather  becomes  the  rule,  the  cultivator 
must  be  kept  at  work  so  as  to  hold  the  water  in  the 
soil  as  far  as  possible  for  growing  plants. 

The  best  tool  for  this  purpose,  as  has  already 
been  suggested,  is  a  light  cultivator  with  several 
shovels.  If  you  will  use  this  tool  once  every  week 
or  ten  days,  going  once  or  twice  in  every  row,  you 
will  have  little  difficulty  in  keeping  cotton  free  from 
weeds  and  grass  and  in  providing  suitable  cultiva- 
tion for  these  other  purposes. 


TOPPING   THE    PLANTS 

A  practice  more  widely  followed  in  former  years 
than  now  is  "topping  cotton."  This  operation 
consists  in  the  removal  of  a  few  inches  of  the  ex- 
treme top  of  the  cotton  stalk  late  in  summer.  The 
idea  is  to  check  the  growth  of  the  leafy  upper  part 
of  the  plant,  and  thereby  favor  the  fuller  develop- 
ment of  the  bolls  already  formed. 

Tests  as  to  the  advantages  of  topping  have  been 
made  at  a  number  of  places,  including  several  at 
our  Experiment  Stations,  but  fail  to  indicate  any 
benefit  from  the  practice;  in  fact,  some  of  these 
tests  have  been  quite  unfavorable  to  it.  In  the  face 
of  these  results  and  in  view  of  the  labor  required. 


COTTON  163 


topping  is  evidently  unwise  and  makes  an  unjustifi- 
able increase  in  the  cost  of  growing  the  crop. 


THE    LAST    CULTIVATION 

The  art  of  cultivation  becomes  very  gentle  and 
delicate  toward  the  end  of  the  growing  season. 
Many  men  have  caught  the  spirit  of  cultivating 
work  for  the  early  stages,  but  few  indeed  for  the 
last. 

This  last  cultivation  is  but  the  final  touch  of  the 
brush  to  complete  the  picture.  The  top  crust  only 
is  to  be  broken;  the  few  straggling  weeds  that  have 
heretofore  escaped  are  to  be  caught,  and  then  the 
work  is  done. 

No  breaking  of  roots,  no  ripping  open  of  soil,  no 
hilling  of  land,  is  needed  in  this  gentle,  delicate 
and  final  cultivation.  Rather,  every  leaf,  and  root, 
and  every  favorable  soil  influence,  must  be  directed 
to  help  the  plant  in  the  tremendous  effort  it  is  mak- 
ing to  fructify. 

CULTURE    IS    POWER   TO    HELP 

Finally,  it  may  be  said  that  the  work  of  culture 
is  to  furnish  assistance  to  the  plant  that  it  may  the 
better  do  its  work. 

The  soil  is  stiff  and  hard,  so  we  must  open  it  that 
roots  may  enter;  plant  food  is  slight,  so  we  must 
provide  additional  quantities;  land  is  poor  in  tex- 
ture, meaning  a  poorer  water  supply,  so  we  must 
add  humus  to  the  land;  weeds  are  hardy,  vigorous 
and  greedy  feeders  on  water  and  food,  also  in- 
fringing on  the  rights  of  the  plant,  so  we  must  get 
rid  of  them;  the  soil  favors  capillarity,  losing  its 
moisture  in  dry  weather,  so  we  must  cultivate  fully 


164  COTTON 

that  it  may  be  blanketed  in,— all  these  we  do  to 
help  the  plant  in  its  struggle  and  its  journey  toward 
maturity. 


YOUNG  PLANTS  JUST  AFTER  GERMINATION 


AS  DESTRUCTIVE  AS  AN  INVADING  ARMY. 

The  pictures  show  the  boll  weevil  and  bolls  blighted  by  its  attacks.     The  cotton 
lost  any  year  as  a  result  of  its  ravages  would  be  enough  for  a  king's  ransom. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


THE    ILLS   THAT    COTTON    IS    HEIR   TO 

From  our  general  knowkdge  of  diseases  it  seems 
not  unnatural  that  any  plant  grown  to  any  extent 
on  the  same  areas  year  after  year,  subject  to  the 
same  treatment,  living  under  the  same  environ- 
ments, should  in  time  be  attacked  by*  diseases  pe- 
culiar to  itself.  Doubtless  many  of  our  common 
plant  diseases  have  been  present  for  considerable 
periods  of  time,  but  have  been  developed  and  rec- 
ognized only  with  the  development  and  application 
of  science  to  agriculture.  It  is  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  we  have  had  for  sometime  many  of  the 
maladies  that  now  affect  cotton.  Doubtless  many 
of  these  have  been  recognized  by  practical  occur- 
rence, but  until  a  pathological  study  was  made  they 
were  not  definitely  described  and  the  range  and 
extent  of  their  ravages  not  clearly  known.  It  is 
scarcely  correct  therefore  to  say  that  the  common 
maladies  of  the  cotton  plant  in  the  United  States 
are  of  recent  occurrence;  rather  they  have  been 
with  us  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  for  a  long  time, 
but  have  become  more  prevalent  in  recent  years, 
since  cotton  production  has  become  a  more  cen- 
tralized  industry  and   its  culture  more  intensive. 

It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  where  planted  spar- 

(165) 


166  COTTON 

ingly,  or  grown  under  some  plan  involving  a  con- 
stant change  of  crops  in  which  cotton  appears  only 
once  in  four  or  five  years,  there  would  be  consider- 
ably less  trouble  from  disease;  for  it  is  only  in  those 
cases  where  a  disease  gains  a  foothold  that  it  causes 
appreciable  loss  to  the  cotton  farm,  and  to  gain 
such  a  foothold  permanently  cotton  must  be 
grown  on  the  same  land  in  fairly  quick  succession. 

The  same  principle  of  disease  as  it  applies  to  the 
cotton  plant,  or  in  fact  to  any  plant,  applies  also 
in  animal  life.  Texas  fever,  for  instance,  affects 
cattle  only  where  they  graze  upon  the  same  land 
year  after  year  and  thus  give  the  tick  time  to  put 
a  new  generation  through  the  full  cycle  of  changes 
each  season.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  cattle  are 
withdrawn  from  the  affected  territory,  and  kept 
from  it  a  year  or  two,  the  tick  disappears  as  soon  as 
the  process  involved  in  the  completion  of  its  life- 
history  is  disturbed,  and  it  perishes,  leaving  the  land 
entirely  free  from  that  time  on.  Perhaps  there 
would  be  no  eradication  of  the  disease  were  the 
lands  continually  grazed  without  any  period  of 
intermission. 

It  is  so  with  our  cotton  diseases  where  the  crop 
is  grown  continually,  as  cotton  usually  is.  There 
is  no  disturbance  of  the  life  process  involved  in  the 
disease  and  so  it  comes  on  year  after  year,  com- 
pleting its  full  cycle  of  development. 

The  treatment  of  disease  in  general  then  should 
involve  preventive  methods  rather  than  specific;  a 
wise  system  of  farming  that  will  improve  the  land 
and  make  it  stronger — this  will  mean  interference 
in  the  development  of  the  disease;  this  will  lessen 
its  ability  to  do  harm,  until  it  perishes  altogether 
for  want  of  necessary  surroundings  and  satisfac- 
tory environments. 


COTTON  167 

In  general  the  diseases  affecting  cotton  may  be 
divided  into  three  classes : 

1.  Diseases  affecting  bolls: 

Anthracnose 
Shedding  bolls. 

2.  Diseases  affecting  roots : 

Root  Gall 
Root  Rot. 

3.  Diseases  affecting  leaves  or  stems  or  both: 

Anthracnose 

Leaf  Blight 

Mildew 

Damping-off 

Wilt 

Mosaic 

Red  Rust 

Angular  Leaf  Spot. 

WHAT   THESE   DISEASES    DO 

In  order  to  clearly  understand  these  diseases 
each  one  will  be  discussed  separately. 

Anthi^acnose: — The  fungus  causing  this  dis- 
ease is  a  well  known  parasite  of  the  cotton  plant 
in  all  its  stages  of  growth.  It  attacks  the  stems 
of  young  seedlings  near  the  ground  and  produces 
the  disease  similar  to  the  well  known  "sore-shin" 
or  damping-off  of  the  same  plant.  The  cotyle- 
dons or  young  seed  leaves  also  are  attacked 
frequently.  The  same  fungus  also  produces  spots 
on  the  leaves  and  on  the  stems,  but  it  is  perhaps 
best  known  as  the  cause  of  the  anthracnose  of  the 
boll. 

When  it  attacks  the  bark  of  the  stem,  reddish- 


168  COTTON 

brown  areas  at  first  are  produced,  and  eventually 
the  bark  dies.  As  a  result  of  this  injury  the  leaves 
may  turn  yellow,  wilt,  and  fall  from  the  plant; 
though,  unlike  the  rust  with  which  these  symptoms 
often  are  confused,  the  plant  rarely  if  ever  produces 
another  crop  of  leaves  when  affected  by  the  anthrac- 
nose. 

As  a  result  of  the  boll  anthracnose,  very  serious 
losses  may  result.  A  boll  when  attacked  by  this 
fungus  assumes,  particularly  on  the  side  exposed  to 
the  sun,  a  bronzy  yellow  due  to  the  growth  of  the 
vegetative  threads  (mycelium)  of  the  fungus  in  the 
walls  of  the  fruit.  If  the  bolls  are  nearly  mature, 
especially  if  the  weather  is  not  very  moist,  no  very 
serious  damage  to  the  bolls  may  result,  and  they 
may  open  in  a  perfectly  normal  manner.  But  if 
the  bolls  are  attacked  when  young,  or  if  the  weather 
is  rather  moist,  the  fungus  may  cause  the  boll  to 
open  prematurely  and  expose  the  lint  to  rotting. 
The  anthracnose  may  become  epidemic,  and  cause 
very  great  losses.  In  this  way  it  caused  very 
serious  trouble  in  many  parts  of  Alabama  during 
last  season.  Under  such  circumstances  the  sur- 
face of  the  bolls  often  becomes  covered  with 
a  pinkish  coat  composed  of  the  spores  of  the 
fungus. 

At  present  no  remedy  is  known,  but  if  the  ravages 
of  the  disease  render  such  effort  necessary,  it  may 
be  possible  to  select  and  develop  resistant  strains 
or  varieties  that  will  be  nearly  immune  against  its 
attacks. 

Shedding  the  Bolls: — This  trouble  has  been  long 
known  and  is  very  frequently  a  serious  loss  to  the 
cotton  farmer.  Alternating  wet  and  dry  weather  is 
the  main  trouble.  Every  farmer  has  noticed  that 
during  a  time  of  excessive  wet  weather  the  ground 


COTTON  169 

is  literally  spotted  with  bolls  that  have  dropped  off. 
This  condition  possibly  should  not  be  called  a  dis- 
ease, but  rather  a  provision  of  nature  to  adjust  the 
plants  to  their  environment.  When  bolls  are  shed 
it  leaves  the  plant  in  a  better  condition  to  mature 
those  bolls  that  are  unaffected.  It  naturally  brings 
up  the  question,  however,  as  to  just  where  is  the 
nice  dividing  line  between  full  fruiting  and  over- 
fruiting. 

No  treatment  for  this  trouble  is  suggested  further 
than  having  the  soil  in  such  condition  that  it  may 
feed  the  plants  so  well  as  to  minimize  the  evils  of 
unfavorable  seasons. 

Root  Gall: — This  disease  is  located  in  the  roots, 
and  its  primary  cause  is  the  nematode  worm  which 
lives  in  the  tissue  and  causes  the  abnormal  growth. 
It  is  termed  a  gall.  This  worm  is  white  or  yellow 
in  color,  and  very  small  and  threadlike  in  form.  It 
has  been  said  that  each  female  will  lay  from  one 
hundred  to  two  hundred  eggs,  and  that  there  may 
be  seven  or  eight  generations  in  a  year.  It  is 
readily  seen  therefore  that  their  growth  and  ex- 
tension is  rather  rapid.  From  the  very  nature  of 
this  disease  it  appears  that  this  worm  must  get  into 
the  soil  from  affected  plants,  and  hence  there  is 
practically  no  way  to  combat  the  trouble  other  than 
by  a  change  of  crops,  and  using  care  that  other  im- 
portant areas  may  not  be  affected  in  the  same 
way. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  direct  damage  from  this 
root  gall  is  not  of  so  much  importance  as  the  in- 
direct damage,  in  that  the  nematode  in  its  injury  to 
the  root  prepares  the  way  for  the  entrance  of  the 
wilt  fungus  into  the  root  system.  Hence  it  is  that 
the  two  troubles  are  often  found  together,  and 
hence  it  is  that  many  claim  that  the  wilt  came  only 


170  COTTON 

after  cowpeas  were  cultivated  on  the  land.  In 
other  words  the  peas  introduced  the  nematode 
worm,  and  this  in  turn  caused  the  cotton  plant 
to  be  readily  attacked  by  the  wilt  fungus.  And 
more  than  this,  the  most  serious  attacks  of  the  wilt 
are  found  on  soils  known  to  be  infected  with  the 
nematode  worms. 

Root  Rot: — Root  rot  is  a  fungus  which  attacks 
other  plants  as  well  as  cotton — alfalfa,  also  apples, 
peaches,  and  other  trees.  The  disease  spreads  in 
all  directions  through  the  soil.  The  fungus  de- 
rives its  nourishment  from  the  living  substance  of 
the  root,  and  this  naturally  uses  up  the  material  in 
the  tissues,  and  they  shrink  and  decay.  The  life 
processes  in  the  roots  are  also  checked,  and  con- 
sequently they  are  unable  to  supply  the  plant  with 
necessary  food  and  water.  As  a  result  the  whole 
plant  shrinks,  withers  and  dies. 

Some  one  has  suggested  the  application  of  salt  or 
kerosene  to  the  soil  as  a  means  of  checking  the 
development  of  this  disease,  but  as  yet  the  efficacy 
of  this  treatment  has  not  been  proved,  and  there  is 
likely  little  or  no  value  in  it.  Crop  rotation  seems 
to  be  the  only  method  that  will  serve  in  keeping  the 
fungus  in  check.  Specific  applications  are  natural- 
ly difficult  to  apply,  even  if  effective.  General 
methods  that  involve  better  management  and 
provide  a  comfortable  home  for  the  plant,  seem  to 
be  the  way  in  which  effective  treatment  or  pre- 
vention must  be  directed.  Crops  like  corn,  millet, 
wheat,  and  oats  seem  not  to  be  affected  by  this  dis- 
ease, and  consequently  they  can  readily  be  used  in 
a  system  of  rotation  that  will  bring  cotton  on  the 
same  field  only  once  every  three  or  four  years.  In 
this  way  cotton  will  show  the  advantage  not  only 
of   crop    rotation,    but    will    improve    by    reason 


COTTON  171 

of  its  ability  better  to  survive  or  resist  the  fungus. 

Leaf  Blight: — This  disease,  while  very  common 
in  cotton  is  not  very  serious.  It  is  a  fungus  that 
attacks  the  older  leaves  of  the  plants,  and  such 
others  as  have  been  disturbed  in  some  manner  so  as 
to  affect  nutrition  and  assimilative  power.  You 
will  sometimes  find  this  disease  associated  with 
other  diseases  that  affect  the  leaves  and  have 
weakened  them,  thus  destroying  their  power  to  re- 
sist disease.  The  leaf  blight  is  distinguished  by 
the  reddish  circular  and  somewhat  irregular  spots 
surrounding  a  rabbit  brown  or  white  central  area. 
As  yet  no  remedy  has  been  suggested  for  this 
trouble,  and  likely  none  will  prove  satisfactory  that 
does  not  involve  a  better  adaptation  of  the  plant  to 
its  environments.  This  adaptation  will  enable  the 
plant  in  a  measure  to  resist  this  disease — or  any 
other  disease  for  that  matter. 

Mildew: — This  is  another  fungus  disease  that 
affects  the  parts  of  the  leaf  limited  by  the  veinlets. 
Its  area  of  infection,  thus  far,  has  been  rather  limited 
and  little  harm  has  so  far  resulted  from  it.  While 
it  may  occur  in  many  parts  of  the  Cotton  Belt,  its 
damage  is  small  and  unimportant.  No  remedy 
has  been  suggested. 

Damping-ofj: — The  terms  *'sore-shin"  and  "seed- 
ling rot"  are  also  applied  to  this  very  common  dis- 
ease. It  is  a  fungus  attacking  the  young  plant  just 
beneath  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The  parts 
affected  assume  a  shrunken  appearance,  brownish 
or  reddish  in  color.  The  time  of  attack  is  in  early 
spring,  when  the  cotton  plant  is  small  and  delicate. 
Wet  weather  aggravates  the  trouble  and  from  the 
nature  of  the  disease,  perhaps  effective  remedies 
cannot  be  applied.  Any  soil  treatment  that  may 
be  given  so  as  to  fit  the  plant  for  its  environment, 


172  COTTON 

thus  controlling  soil  conditions,  will  favorably  in- 
fluence the  plant  so  that  it  can  outgrow  the  trouble. 
Liming  the  soil  to  improve  its  mechanical  con- 
dition ;  good  tillage  so  as  to  loosen  and  aerate  the 
soil;  frequent  cultivation  in  the  spring  so  as  to  dry 
out  the  soil,  usually  after  rain,  and  at  the  same 
time  warm  it  up,  are  the  best  means  of  helping  the 
plant  when  the  fungus  appears. 

Wilt: — This  disease  has  also  been  called  "french- 
ing,"  and  extends  over  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
Southern  Cotton  Belt.  The  fungus  gains  entrance 
through  the  roots  and  thence  goes  into  the  wood 
tissue  of  the  stems.  The  growth  of  the  fungus  in 
the  stems  naturally  hinders  the  upward  and  down- 
ward movement  of  the  plant  solutions,  thus  inter- 
fering with  the  physiological  processes  of  the  plant. 
How  the  disease  works  may  be  readily  seen  by 
splitting  open  the  stem:  a  brownish  diseased  con- 
dition will  be  noticed.  Occasionally  you  find  that 
a  greater  part  of  the  leaves  of  the  affected  plant 
drop  and  the  plant  dies,  a  new  growth  probably 
appearing  from  the  lower  part  of  the  stalk. 

The  only  remedy  lies  in  securing  a  variety  or 
breeding  a  variety  that  will  resist  the  disease.  This 
is  the  only  direction  from  which  help  can  come.  By 
going  into  the  field  and  selecting  seed  only  from 
plants  that  have  lived  through  the  plague,  you  can, 
after  awhile,  secure  plants  that  will  grow  on  in- 
fected soil. 

Mosaic  Disease: — The  name  "yellow  blight" 
is  also  applied  to  this  disease.  It  follows  as  the  re- 
sult of  uncongenial  conditions  of  soil  and  weather, 
and  even  of  other  diseases  that  seem  to  sap  the 
strength  of  the  plant.  Healthy  leaves,  or  leaves 
from  very  healthy  plants,  are   seldom  if  ever  at- 


COTTON  173 

tacked.  The  first  appearance  of  the  disease  is  a 
pecuKar  yellowing  of  the  leaf  which  assumes  a 
checkered  appearance.  As  it  gains  ground,  the 
leaf  not  infrequently  curls  up  and  falls. 

The  most  effective  remedy  is  to  keep  the  plant  in 
good  growing  condition.  Cultivation  is  effective, 
since  it  warms  the  soil,  dries  the  upper  layer,  and 
provides  an  effective  mulch  during  seasons  of 
drought;  or  an  addition  of  vegetable  matter,  im- 
proving the  physical  conditions  of  the  soil  and 
thereby  favoring  the  plant,  is  an  effective  help  in 
carrying  the  plant  through  the  danger,  and  en- 
abling it  to  resist  the  disease. 

Red  Rust: — The  reddening  of  leaves  often  noted 
in  parts  of  cotton  fields  is  the  result  of  attacks  by 
the  red  spider.  As  a  rule,  this  trouble  is  limited 
in  area  extent,  and  it  is  not  a  prominent  disease. 
Dry,  warm  weather  favors  the  increase  and  growth 
of  the  spiders,  and  hence  any  treatment  that  causes 
vigor  and  steady  growth  in  the  plant  is  a  safe  and 
effective  remedy. 

Angular  Leaf  Spot: — This  disease  is  largely  con- 
fined to  the  months  of  June  and  July,  and  while 
it  nowhere  appears  to  any  appreciable  extent, 
it  is  found  in  a  very  large  territory.  It  gets  its 
name  from  the  dark  angular  spots  which  appear  on 
the  leaves.  The  disease  does  not  extend  to  all  of 
the  leaves,  but  usually  only  to  those  that  are  older 
and  less  active  in  growth.  The  spots  are  watery  at 
first,  but  in  time  assume  a  blackish  and  then  a 
brownish  color.  Those  plants  that  are  less  vigor- 
ous and  therefore  constitutionally  weak  are  usually 
the  natural  prey  of  the  disease.  The  selection  of 
strong  seed,  with  careful  cultivation,  giving  a  good 
growing  environment  for  the  plant,  is  suggested  as 
the  best  means  of  warding  off  the  malady. 


174  COTTON 

WHAT  TREATMENT  THESE  DISEASES  SUGGEST  ' 

We  see  from  what  has  been  said  that  the  cotton 
plant  falls  heir  to  many  kinds  of  diseases.  You 
naturally  look  for  some  treatment  that  will  keep 
your  plants  from  disease  and  help  them  to  be 
strong  and  healthy.  What  is  the  remedy.?  It 
lies  along  one  general  direction:  fitting  the  plant 
to  its  environment.  If  its  atmosphere,  its  home 
conditions,  and  life  in  general,  are  good,  it  will  in  a 
large  measure  resist  all  diseases. 

The  central  thought  then  is  to  apply  preventive 
rather  than  remedial  measures.  Get  your  soil 
deep,  and  well  loosened;  fill  it  with  vegetable 
matter  so  as  to  control  the  warmth  and  moisture 
and  plant  food;  rotate  your  crops  so  that  no  dis- 
ease may  gain  headway;  apply  humus  fre- 
quently and  constantly  to  the  soil,  because  humus 
is  the  life  of  the  land;  and  select  seed  only  from 
strong  and  vigorous  plants,  for  these  will  possess 
endurance. 

The  right  treatment  of  disease  lies  in  these 
directions.  Follow  them  and  neither  fungus  nor 
bacteria  can  destroy  your  crop;  follow  them  and 
your  reward  will  be  found  in  a  plenteous  harvest. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

INSECT    ENEMIES    OF   THE    COTTON   PLANT 

You  have  heard  about  some  of  the  troubles  that 
come  to  the  cotton  farmer  through  the  depreda- 
tions of  insects;  maybe  you  have  been  troubled 
yourself;  if  so,  you  are  altogether  familiar  with 
trouble  of  the  real  and  true  sort.  But  you,  in  those 
regions  where  the  plague  has  not  yet  come,  you  had 
better  go  out  to  meet  the  foe,  ere  he  come,  rather 
than  delay  the  battle  until  the  enemy  is  upon  you. 
For  in  either  case  you  face  a  foe  of  no  uncommon 
kind,  determined,  aggressive,  often  defeated,  but 
so  undaunted  by  defeat  that  it  keeps  on,  usually 
winning  in  the  end.  Such,  at  least,  has  been  our 
experience  with  the  Mexican  Boll  Weevil.  Slowly 
at  first  it  approached,  merely  selecting  a  place  for 
camp;  but  that  first  camp  became  really  a  fort, 
and  in  all  directions  its  outrunners  have  gone,  gain- 
ing in  numbers,  until  to-day  their  aggressiveness 
and  power  threaten  the  whole  Cotton  Belt. 

I. THE    MEXICAN    COTTON    BOLL    WEEVIL 

Monclova,  Mexico,  produced  considerable  cot- 
ton in  the  early  half  of  the  last  century;  from  some- 
where, in  some  direction,  came  the  insect  of  this 
story.  How  long  it  encamped  around  this  little 
town  we  do  not  know,  but  sometime  between  1860 


176  COTTON" 

and  1865  Its  ravages,  gradually  increasing,  forced 
the  farmers  finally  to  abandon  the  culture  of  cotton. 
Cotton  was  not  grown  then  for  a  great  many  years 
until  it  was  thought  safe  to  make  another  effort. 
But  scarcely  had  operations  begun  anew  before 
there  appeared  the  ancient  foe — hidden  up  to  that 
time,  of  course,  but  where  no  one  knows — and  de- 
stroyed the  crop.  Twenty  years  later  the  insect 
was  noticed  at  Matamoras,  carrying  on  the  same 
destructive  work;  but  it  stopped  not  here.  In  ten 
years  it  reached  the  Rio  Grande.  Checked  for 
a  moment,  but  not  baffled,  it  goes  on,  continuing 
in  its  attempt  to  cross  the  river,  which  it  succeeds 
in  doing  within  a  year  or  two.  Once  across,  more 
bold  now,  it  makes  its  campaign  with  quickness 
and  dispatch,  entrenching  itself  at  Brownsville, 
Texas.  Not  waiting  to  subjugate  completely  the 
surrounding  territory,  it  hurries  on  with  darting 
jumps,  and  within  a  year  it  has  fastened  its  hold 
upon  San  Diego,  Alice  and  Beeville.  This  was  in 
1894.  The  interior  does  not  stop  it;  for  within  a 
year  it  goes  still  further  to  the  North,  doing  consid- 
erable damage  at  Floresville,  and  reaching  even 
San  Antonio.  Likewise  it  pushes  to  the  East  and 
to  the  Gulf,  reaching  Victoria,  Cuero,  and  sends 
its  scouts  to  Wharton  also.  The  last  ten  years 
has  been  a  period  of  entrenchment  and  invasion 
to  a  peculiar  degree.  Practically  all  of  the  cotton- 
growing  territory  of  Texas  is  now  invaded ;  and  the 
weevil  has  crossed  into  Louisiana,  and  has  even 
threatened  Indian  Territory. 

Its  ravages  have  been  great,  and  for  the  last 
four  years  the  annual  amount  lost  to  the  cotton 
growers  of  Texas  has  been  approximately  twenty- 
five  millions  of  dollars.  Including  the  loss  to 
ginners,  manufacturers,  and  other  allied  industries, 


COTTON  177 

the  total  yearly  loss  to  the  South  through  this 
insect  probably  amounts  to  a  hundred  million 
dollars. 

WHAT    THE    DESPERADO    IS    LIKE 

The  Mexican  Boll  Weevil  is  not  a  ferocious- 
looking  foe.  It  is  only  a  small  gray  beetle,  with  a 
reddish-brown  snout,  and  a  body  scarcely  a  quarter 
of  an  inch  in  length — the  desperado  that  causes 
all  this  trouble  and  fright.  It  hardly  seems  possible 
that  he  could  strike  terror  to  the  hearts  of  so  many 
thousand  people,  or  that  he  could  attract  so  much 
space  in  the  newspapers.  As  with  men,  it  is  not  the 
man  but  the  work  done  that  calls  for  praise  or  pun- 
ishment; so  with  the  boll  weevil,  it  is  not  the  insect 
(for  you  have  seen  scores  all  about  you  that  look 
more  capable  of  evil)  but  his  methods  of  attack, 
his  numbers,  that  have  alarmed  the  millions  of  peo- 
ple dependent  upon  one  of  the  greatest  industries 
of  the  world. 

THE    LIFE    HISTORY 

As  the  life  of  one  man  is  the  history  of  all  men, 
so  is  the  life  of  one  of  these  insects  the  life  of  all. 
And  clearly  to  understand  him  and  his  destructive 
work,  we  must  follow  the  life  history  through  its 
cycle,  for  it  is  during  one  of  the  intermediate  stages 
that  the  greatest  trouble  is  done. 

Let  us  take  him  when  his  work  for  the  year  is 
over:  when  his  evil  deeds  for  the  season  are  ended, 
and  follow  him  sufficiently  close  and  far  enough  for 
observation  purposes,  since  that  is  the  only  way 
we    can    fully    understand    his    life. 

The  weevil  has  done  its  work  for  the  season. 


178  COTTON 

The  cotton  crop  is  ripe  and  harvested — or  what 
is  left  of  it  after  the  weevil  has  done  his  work  is 
harvested.  He  still  stays  with  the  cotton  plant  un- 
til late  in  December,  or  as  long  as  any  portion  of 
the  plant  is  green. 

Winter  approaches  now,  and  a  winter  home  is 
needed.  Where  shall  he  go.^  He  does  not  like 
cold,  and  thousands  and  thousands  of  his  fellows 
perish  each  year;  but  there  are  many  places  of  pro- 
tection on  the  average  cotton  farm;  the  open  bolls, 
grass  and  weeds,  brush  and  rubbish;  even  leaves 
in  the  ground  furnish  a  home  and  warmth.  Here 
he  stays  with  all  his  fellows,  silent  and  asleep,  until 
spring  comes  again.  The  warm  days  of  rejuvena- 
tion go  on.  The  buds  on  tree  and  grass  stalk 
crack  and  burst  in  their  joy,  and  perhaps  awake  the 
sleeping  beetle,  which  is  now  attracted  by  the 
joyful  sounds,  and  proceeds  to  take  breakfast  with 
the  happy  hosts. 

When  cotton  has  grown  so  large  that  squares 
are  made,  the  enemy  appears,  looking  altogether 
harmless,  few  in  numbers,  and  exceptionally  gay. 
Soon  the  female  begins  to  lay  eggs.  At  first  her  nests 
are  many  and  she  puts  but  one  egg  to  the  square. 
By  and  by,  as  the  number  of  females  increases,  and 
the  squares  become  fewer  in  number,  more  nests 
must  be  found.  The  boll  seems  to  serve  the  pur- 
pose well.  But  the  shell  is  hard.  So  much  the 
better;  it  will  be  safer  there.  Wise  little  mother 
beetle!  she  will  find  a  way.  And  she  does,  for  that 
snout  seems  especially  built  for  digging  and  eating. 
The  opening  made,  the  egg  is  inserted,  and  the  open- 
ing closed.  Too  precious  to  the  little  mother  is  that 
egg  and  the  life  within  it  for  her  not  to  exercise 
care,  that  it  may  not  be  disturbed  or  destroyed. 
She  knows  in  some  way,  in  some  manner,  and  with 


COTTON  179 

some  instinct,  that  the  juice  of  the  boll  will  soon 
glue  the  opening  shut,  and  her  offspring  will  be 
protected  and  safe.  Sometimes  two  or  three  eggs 
are  laid  in  each  boll.  In  just  two  or  three  days  the 
egg  is  hatched,  the  young  larva  develops,  trans- 
forms to  pupa,  and  eventually  completes  its  cycle, 
this  time  becoming  a  beetle — the  final  stage  of 
weevil  growth. 

These  beetles  join  the  hosts  of  other  workers, 
and  soon  a  vast  army,  scattered  here  and  there, 
seek  new  squares  and  growing  bolls,  and  they  too 
lay  their  eggs,  contributing  their  share  to  the 
new  broods,  and  to  the  destructive  depredations. 

So  then  we  see  that  there  is  a  constant  succession 
of  generations  from  the  time  of  the  earliest  ap- 
pearance of  volunteer  plants  until  the  end  of 
the  season.  This  description  of  affairs  readily 
suggests  the  tremendous  hosts  at  work,  destroy- 
ing the  crop  and  blasting  the  hopes  of  the  cotton 
planter. 

The  greatest  enemy  of  the  weevil  is  frost  and 
cold  weather.  When  these  come  late  in  the  season 
the  latest  broods  mature  and  seek  winter  quarters, 
in  which  they  may  hibernate  during  the  winter 
months.  Thus  a  late  season  is  favorable.  On 
the  other  hand,  where  frost  and  cold  come  early,  the 
last  broods  are  caught  and  nearly  all  are  killed. 
The  surviving  beetles  have  secured  their  winter 
quarters  either  before,  or  do  so  now,  and  sleep 
silently  until  spring's  choice  days  bring  them  back 
again  to  the  strenuous  life  they  fill  so  well. 

WHERE    HELP    LIES 

"Is  there  no  hope  of  ridding  the  land  of  the 
pest.^"  ten  thousand  people  ask. 


180  COTTON 

"There  is,"  the  scientific  people  say,  "but  you 
must  give  us  time." 

"And  in  what  way?" 

"We  can  tell  you,  so  far,  only  indefinitely,  but 
several  things  are  being  tried,"  comes  back  the 
answer. 

And  many  things  are  being  done.  Every  sug- 
gestion having  merit  is  considered.  Experts  from 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington, 
Experiment  Stations,  and  private  parties,  all  are 
exerting  themselves  to  the  utmost  that  this  question 
may  be  answered,  and  some  practical  remedy 
applied. 

Some  one  heard  of  an  ant  in  Guatemala  that  is 
a  natural  enemy  of  the  Boll  Weevil,  and  parties 
were  at  once  dispatched  to  study  it  and  to  make 
friends  with  this  new-found  ally.  ' 

The  ant  was  found  and  brought  to  our  shores 
where  a  hospitable  welcome  awaited  it,  but  the 
climate  was  colder  than  it  was  accustomed  to,  and 
many  of  the  specimens  died.  But  some  are  adapt- 
ing themselves  to  their  new  environment,  and  in 
course  of  time  the  ant  may  become  indeed  a 
friend  and  ally  to  the  cotton  planter.  In  the  mean- 
time we  must  wait  and  not  neglect  other  ways  of 
ridding  the  land  of  the  fatal  beetle. 

"  What  more  can  be  done,  and  how  can  we  help  ?'' 
the  farmer  asks. 

"You  can  help  in  many  ways:  you  can  make 
life  miserable  to  your  enemies.  See  how  they  use 
your  property — grass,  brush,  rubbish — for  winter 
quarters:  will  you  permit  them  to  do  this  ?" 

And  you  can  disturb  them  much:  old  rubbish, 
grass,  and  brush  you  can  burn  and  so  destroy 
thousands;  for  in  destroying  their  winter  quarters 
you  subject  them  to  hardships  that  in  the  end  will 


THE  ALPHA  AND  OMEGA  OF  COTION  MAKING. 

The  picture  at  the  top  shows  the  growth  of  cotton  day  by  clay — at  21   days  it 
is  still  only  a  tiny  two-leaved  plant.     Compare  with  corn. 


COTTON  181 

mean  the  destruction  of  many.  Hence  it  follows 
that  all  rubbish,  including  cotton  stalks,  should  be 
burned  as  early  in  the  fall  as  practicable,  and  the 
land  turned  with  the  plow. 

Other  effective  remedies  lie  in  trapping  the  beetle 
in  the  late  fall  by  means  of  new  plants  left  standing; 
by  enticing  with  early  plants  those  that  escape  and 
live  through  the  winter,  and  then  destroying  them; 
by  destroying  all  volunteer  cotton  plants — for  these 
are  natural  feeding  places  and  brooding  grounds; 
by  picking  summer  squares  so  as  to  check  the 
summer  ravages;  and  by  using  early-maturing 
seed  and  planting  as  early  as  possible. 

In  some  of  these  methods  you  can  now  find  help ; 
by  some  of  these  methods  the  final  battle  will  be 
waged  and  the  victory  will  come  to  you  and  your 
fellows. 

II. THE    CATERPILLAR    OR    COTTON    WORM 

This  insect  has  a  wider  territory  for  his  range, 
and  while  he  still  causes  much  anxiety  and  dis- 
tress, he  once  ruled  with  considerable  force  and 
power. 

He  looks  like  a  caterpillar:  in  fact  that  is  what  he 
is.  You  are  thoroughly  familiar  with  his  work  and 
that  of  his  class.  Eating  seems  to  be  his  principal 
occupation.  All  caterpillars  are  voracious  eaters. 
Trees  are  stripped  of  their  leaves;  small  fruits  be- 
come bare  of  every  vestige  of  green;  cabbages  are 
often  entirely  destroyed.  You  are  familiar  with 
these.  The  cotton  caterpillar  is  just  as  greedy  in 
his  cotton  field.  In  appearance  you  find  him  a 
bluish  green  caterpillar,  with  small  black  spots, 
and  often  with  black  stripes  down  his  back.  This 
is  the  fellow  that  does  the  damage. 


182  COTTON 

THE  STORY  OF  HIS  LIFE 

The  female  lays  about  500  eggs,  using  one  or 
more  leaves  for  places  of  deposit,  and  usually  the 
underside  of  the  leaf.  Since  the  moth  is  a  night- 
flyer,  eggs,  as  a  rule,  are  laid  at  night.  In  the 
summer,  these  eggs  hatch  in  three  or  four  days, 
but  the  time  is  lengthened  somewhat  in  the  earlier 
and  the  later  seasons  of  the  year.  The  young 
larva  on  hatching  from  the  egg,  begins  feeding  on 
the  leaf,  starting  with  the  underside,  and  biting 
just  a  bit  of  the  layer.  A  little  stronger,  it  travels 
about,  and  finally  may  be  seen  at  any  place  on  the 
stalk.  During  the  caterpillar's  life,  the  skin  is  shed 
five  times;  at  the  fifth  shedding  full  growth  is 
reached.  It  usually  takes  from  one  to  four  weeks 
to  complete  this  part  of  its  existence.  At  first 
the  larva  is  yellow  in  color,  but  soon  a  change 
is  seen  and  the  greenish  appearance  deepens 
and  becomes  permanent,  the  black  along  the 
back  coming  out  prominently,  though  varying 
in  intensity  with  different  individuals.  The  larva 
moves  rapidly;  in  walking  it  brings  its  hind  prop 
legs  forward  to  its  fore  legs,  arching  its  back  and  be- 
coming a  loop  in  shape.  It  eats  greedily  now, 
subsisting  on  leaves  principally;  but  where  numbers 
are  many  and  food  consequently  scarce,  the  cotton 
boll  is  not  spared  but  also  contributes  to  the  bill  of 
fare.  And  should  the  vegetation  diet  become  short, 
there  is  no  hesitation  about  the  stronger  members 
feeding  on  the  feebler  and  smaller  individuals  of 
the  race. 

WHEN  MATURITY  COMES 

Many  farmers  believe  that  the  caterpillar,  when 


COTTON  183 

mature,  seeks  rest  in  the  ground  and  passes  the 
winter  there. 

I  asked  one  who  knows  this  insect  well. 

*'Not  so,"  he  answered  me.  "In  fact,  the  in- 
sect does  not  even  enter  the  ground.  Nor  is  the 
winter  passed  in  the  caterpillar  stage.  The  fact 
is,  an  imperfect  cocoon  is  made,  usually  within  a 
folded  leaf.  Here  a  nap  is  taken  for  a  week  or  two, 
sometimes  even  for  four  weeks.  When  its  sleep  is 
finished,  it  is  not  a  caterpillar  that  comes  out,  but 
instead  a  flying  moth,  rather  small  in  size  and  of 
olive  green  or  gray  color.  This  moth  is  somewhat 
shy  of  the  day,  usually  hiding  then,  but  with  the 
coming  of  the  night  it  takes  wings,  seeking  food, 
and  a  nest  for  its  eggs.  From  now  on  it  is  a  more 
active  creature.  It  flies  on  and  on,  and  seldom 
returns  to  its  home.  In  fact,  it  goes  to  the  North, 
going  from  its  ancestors'  Southern  home,  and  leaves 
its  brood  in  a  new  land;  these  broods  in  turn,  hav- 
ing a  like  roving  disposition,  seek  new  lands  also, 
until  the  distance  grows  so  large,  it  is  quite  im- 
possible ever  to  reach  the  ancestral  home  again. 
This  moth  wanders  even  as  far  to  the  northward  as 
Canada." 

The  number  of  generations  each  season  is  large. 
This  is  readily  understood  when  we  consider  the 
fact  that  in  just  a  few  days  after  leaving  the  pupa 
state  the  moth  begins  its  business  of  laying  eggs. 
Thus  five,  six,  or  even  more  generations  may  be 
produced  during  a  summer — so  quite  naturally  a 
single  individual  can  populate  a  territory  of  con- 
siderable extent. 

Later  generations  of  each  season,  drifting  north- 
ward, are  damaged  by  cold,  and  seldom,  if  ever,  sur- 
vive the  winter.  Hence  all  generations  born  outside 
of  Southern  climes  are  lost.     New  broods  coming 


184  COTTON 

from  the  southern  portions  of  the  country  along  the 
Gulf  each  year  must  furnish  the  northern  popula- 
tion, and  so  great  is  the  number,  the  hosts  often  do 
considerable  damage  to  late  peaches  in  Kansas  and 
ruin  acres  of  cantaloupes  as  far  north  as  Wisconsin. 

WHERE  THE  WINTER  IS  SPENT 

The  moths  that  go  to  the  north  each  season 
never  live  through  the  winter;  they  are  too  far 
from  home  to  get  back  again,  and  the  winter  is  too 
severe  for  them  to  endure  the  cold;  hence  they 
never  see  the  coming  of  a  new  year.  It  is  left  to 
their  relatives  and  their  kind  that  abide  in  the 
warmer  sections  of  the  most  southern  portions  of 
the  Cotton  Belt.  Great  numbers  of  these  likewise 
perish.  But  of  course  many  succeed  in  finding 
winter  quarters  to  their  liking,  through  the  shelter 
of  rank  wire  grass,  and  other  vegetation.  Ex- 
ceptionally few  of  these  survive,  but  their  large 
broods  quickly  populate  all  their  territory,  and  the 
caterpillars  are  as  numerous  as  the  season  before. 

GETTING  RID  OF  THEM 

The  natural  way  to  rid  the  land  of  these  pests 
would  be  to  destroy  their  winter  quarters,  and  they 
would  perish  as  they  do  when  attacked  by  like 
unfavorable  conditions  elsewhere.  This  seems  im- 
practicable now,  since  the  undrained  territory 
and  waste  places  of  their  winter  resorts  are  so 
extensive. 

A    COMMON    REMEDY 

Where  the  caterpillar  becomes  very  troublesome, 


COTTON  185 

threatening  the  crop,  some  heroic  treatment  is  neces- 
sary. This  seems  to  be  found  in  the  use  of 
Paris  green  sprinkled  on  the  cotton  plant. 

A  rather  ingenious  method  is  in  vogue  for  doing 
this  work:  two  sacks,  made  of  heavy  cloth,  10 
inches  long  and  4  inches  wide,  with  both  ends  sewed, 
are  tacked  to  the  ends  of  a  strip  of  wood  1^  inches 
by  2  inches  and  5  feet  long.  The  open  sides  of  the 
bags  are  tacked  to  each  of  the  sides  of  the  strip  of 
wood.  A  hole  is  now  made  in  the  end  of  the  strip, 
and  through  this  Paris  green  is  poured  by  means  of 
a  funnel,  and  distributed  by  riding  on  horseback 
between  the  cotton  rows,  dusting  two  rows  at  a 
time.  A  slight  jarring  of  the  wood  strip  will  cause 
the  poison  to  pass  through  the  sacks  to  the  cotton 
plants  below.  With  such  equipment  one  man  and 
one  horse  will  dust  from  15  to  20  acres  daily. 

III. THE  COTTON  BOLL  WORM 

You  have  very  likely  seen  this  insect  in  some  of 
its  forms;  maybe  not  in  connection  with  cotton, 
for  it  is  known  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  but  per- 
haps feeding  on  some  plant  such  as  corn,  peas, 
beans,  pumpkins,  or  squash.  Its  food  range  does 
not  stop  even  here,  but  includes  even  the  tobacco 
plant,  and  its  fastidious  palate  often  selects  many 
of  the  garden  plants  such  as  the  geranium  and 
gladiolus,  and  even  wild  plants  also. 

THE  CYCLE  OF  ITS  LIFE 

The  egg  is  usually  laid  on  the  underside  of  the 
cotton  leaf,  but  is  often  seen  on  other  parts  as  well. 
You  will  recognize  it  by  its  whitish  color,  although 
inclined  to  a  yellowish  tint,  is  nearly  round  in  shape, 


186  COTTON 

and  quite  similar  to  the  cotton  worm  egg,  though  a 
little  larger  in  size.  From  a  couple  of  days  to  a 
week  are  required  for  incubation. 

The  larva  is  somewhat  darker  than  the  cotton 
worm,  and  assumes  the  same  general  appearance 
in  walking.  Its  first  feeding  is  done  near  the  place 
where  it  was  hatched ;  as  it  grows  in  strength  (and 
this  it  does  in  a  surprisingly  short  time),  it  wanders 
about  seeking  what  is  more  acceptable  to  its  ap- 
petite— the  cotton  boll.  It  seems  that  the  contents 
of  the  cotton  boll  favor  its  development,  since  the 
boll  worm  seldom  reaches  full  growth  upon  a  diet 
of  leaves  alone. 

When  a  boll  is  at  last  found,  it  begins  its  work  by 
boring  into  it,  feasting  upon  it,  and  then  abandoning 
it  for  another  boll.  This  is  kept  up  day  after  day. 
This  method  of  dieting  is,  of  course,  very  destructive 
to  the  crop.  Quite  a  number  of  bolls  may  be 
destroyed  by  each  individual  worm.  More  yet  to 
be  said  against  its  spendthrift  habits  is  its  constant 
unreasonableness  in  attacking  premature  blooms, 
which  of  course  prevents  them  from  further  de- 
velopment, and  consequently  incapacitates  them 
for  fructifying.  This  much  must  be  said  in  its 
favor,  however;  this  policy  is  not  wanton  de- 
struction, for  it  makes  food  of  the  stamen  and 
pistils  of  the  blooms  in  satisfying  its  greedy  appe- 
tite. 

Their  feeding  habits  indicate  that  these  insects 
are  not  altogether  harmonious  and  agreeable  in 
their  pursuits,  for  the  stronger  and  older  ones  im- 
pose constantly  on  the  younger  and  weaker,  even  to 
the  extent  of  eating  them  when  vegetable  food  is 
scarce,  or  not  altogether  to  their  liking.  As  a  rule 
you  will  find  these  "big  fellows"  appropriating 
the  larger  and  more  luscious  bolls,   and  leaving 


COTTON  187 

the  smaller  bolls  and  the  flower  buds  to  the  young 
and  immature  worms. 

After  living  thus  for  two  or  three  (and  some- 
times even  for  four)  weeks,  the  larva  reaches  its 
full  growth,  and  now,  weary  of  the  world  in  this 
form,  it  seeks  some  place  for  rest  and  change.  It 
finds  this  in  the  very  soil  out  of  which  the  plant 
comes  and  upon  which  it  is  fed.  It  enters  the 
ground,  and  out  of  earth  it  welds  an  oval  cell,  and 
here  remains  from  a  week  to  a  month.  At  the  end 
of  its  pupa  life,  it  appears  as  a  moth,  varied  in  its 
markings  and  somewhat  stout  in  body.  Its  dress 
is  bright  in  color,  shading  from  a  dull  yellow  to  an 
olive  green. 

An  active  little  creature,  we  find  it  darting  here 
and  there,  but  usually  seeking  the  night  time  for 
exercise,  food  and  work.  Whether  it  thinks  it 
safer  to  appear  at  this  time  or  whether  it  is  some- 
what ashamed  of  its  deeds,  does  not  appear;  still  we 
know  it  hides  among  the  clover  and  the  grass  during 
the  day,  and  with  the  approach  of  darkness  comes 
out  of  its  seclusion  to  find  food  and  a  place  to 
deposit  its  eggs. 

Unlike  the  two  insects  previously  described,  the 
moth  seeks  sweeter  feeding-grounds  and  more 
appetizing  foods,  such  as  the  honey  found  in  the 
blossoms  of  the  cowpea,  the  clovers,  and  other 
nectar-secreting  plants. 

THE  season's  population 

A  single  female  deposits  something  like  500  eggs 
at  a  time.  The  average  time  occupied  in  the  various 
changes  from  the  egg  to  the  adult  state  of  the  moth 
is  from  thirty-five  to  forty  days;  and  since  the  first 
appearance  is  about  the  last  of  April  or  the  first  of 


188  COTTON 

May,  there  is  easily  time  enough  for  five  or  six 
generations  in  each  season.  What  a  population 
for  a  single  year!  Do  you  wonder  that  their 
ravages  are  so  destructive,  or  their  reputation  for 
evil  so  extensive  ? 

Nor  do  these  pests  limit  their  work  to  the  cotton 
plant  alone;  they  are  just  as  aggressive  in  the 
fields  of  corn  as  in  the  cotton  fields.  They  find 
pleasant  feeding  grounds  in  both  tassels  and  grow- 
ing ears.  When  the  former  have  passed  their  edible 
state  and  the  latter  have  become  too  hard  for 
eating,  the  moth  seeks  other  feeding  grounds,  new 
cotton  perhaps,  or  a  later-maturing  corn  somewhat 
farther  off;  maybe  a  tomato  field  lies  in  some  other 
direction:  if  so,  it  will  be  found  and  appropriated 
for  the  use  of  the  new-coming  brood. 

WHEN  WINTER  COMES 

As  a  rule,  larvse  of  the  latest  broods  seek  winter 
homes  in  the  ground  and  there  remain  until  the 
warm  days  of  spring  rescue  them  when  they  issue 
forth  as  moths,  soon  to  lay  eggs  preparatory  to 
another  summer's  campaign.  But  this  is  not  the 
only  way  the  winter  months  are  passed,  for  adult 
moths  are  known  to  seek  shelter  in  some  protected 
place  and  hibernate  during  the  cold  weather, 
perhaps  only  a  few,  however,  in  the  adult  or  moth 
stage. 

ENEMIES   OF   THE    INSECT 

Many  birds  feed  constantly  on  worms.  Nat- 
urally the  cotton  caterpillar  and  the  cotton  boll 
worm  do  not  escape  this  provision  by  which  nature 
seeks  to  keep  them  and  other  insect  pests  in  check. 
The  boll  worm  is  the  more  favored  of  these  two 


THE  BOLL  WEEVIL'S  CONQUEST  OF  TEXAS. 

The  shaded  territory  shows  where  the  boll  weevil  is  doing  the  most    serious 
damage. 


O   ^, 
O    5 


is'   a 


o 

-*1 


'i'o 


=  c|     ^^1 


5?^  C.  < 


^  M 


-J  N  CO     .  ■*  lO  c 


BEFORE  THE  EACTUllY  CAME. 
(A)   Girls  wind  the  yarn  from   spools   into  skeins,  just  as  our  grandmothers 
used  to  do  'way  down  east. 

<B)    The  skeins  of  yarn  are  washed  thoroughly  in  both  hot  and  cold  water. 


COTTON  189 

insects,  since  it  does  a  good  deal  of  its  feeding  under 
cover  of  corn  shucks,  or  within  the  shell  of  the  cot- 
ton boll,  while  the  cotton  worm  is  usually  exposed 
to  bird  enemies  during  the  whole  of  its  larva  life. 


GETTING    RID    OF   THE    INSECTS 

Many  kinds  of  traps  have  been  devised  for  catch- 
ing the  moths.  As  you  know,  moths  of  all  kind 
are  attracted  by  lights  when  darkness  comes  on, 
but  the  expense  of  operation,  the  comparatively 
small  number  that  are  caught,  and  the  large  per- 
centage of  beneficial  insects  killed,  seem  to  mark 
the  moth  trap  as  worthless. 

Poison  has  also  been  tried,  but  with  unfavorable 
results.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  destroy  the  cotton 
boll  worm  as  we  may  destroy  the  cotton  caterpillar, 
as  the  latter  feeds  within  bolls  or  is  hidden  within 
the  tassels  or  ears  of  corn.  Nor  have  we  been  suc- 
cessful in  attempts  at  enticing  moths  to  especially 
prepared  sweets  flavored  with  poison  and  put  with- 
in their  range,  for  only  a  very  few  accept  the 
invitation. 

The  most  successful  effort  is  in  growing  trap 
crops  planted  especially  for  nesting  places 
for  the  moths.  As  soon  as  eggs  are  deposited 
these  crops  are  destroyed,  and  the  number  of 
broods  of  each  generation  is  kept  at  a  minimum. 
A  few  rows  of  early  but  not  thickly-planted  sweet 
corn  are  used  to  surround  a  certain  area  of  cotton. 
As  the  eggs  are  deposited  on  the  silk  the  ears  bear- 
ing this  can  be  plucked  and  fed  to  live  stock.  A 
few  rows  of  later  corn  may  be  coming  on  to  catch 
later  broods,  thus  to  a  certain  degree,  keeping  the 
pest  in  check. 


190  COTTON 

IV. COTTON    APHIS. 

When  the  first  few  leaves  of  the  cotton  plant  have 
formed,  you  may  frequently  observe  on  the  under 
surface  many  tiny,  soft-bodied  insects — some  hav- 
ing wings,  others  wingless.  Often  they  are  so 
numerous  on  the  terminals  of  the  buds  as  to  give 
these  buds  a  black  appearance.  This  pest  is  the  cot- 
ton aphis.  These  aphides  have  passed  the  winter  on 
various  kinds  of  common  weeds,  but  in  spring  mi- 
grate to  the  cotton  plants.  Often  these  tiny  in- 
sects multiply  so  rapidly  as  to  become  very  de- 
structive, doing  the  damage  by  sucking  the  sap 
from  the  young  leaves. 

They  can  be  destroyed  by  spraying  with  kerosene 
emulsion,  whale  oil  soap,  or  tobacco  water,  but 
this  is  rarely  profitable.  As  they  pass  the  winter 
on  various  kinds  of  weeds,  it  is  at  once  apparent 
that  fall  and  winter  plowing,  by  which  the  field  is 
cleared  of  the  host  plants,  will  do  much  toward 
preventing  injury  from  this  pest. 

V. CUT    AVORMS 

In  early  spring  when  young  cotton  plants  are  just 
out  of  the  soil,  the  farmer  when  visiting  the  field 
in  the  morning  will  often  find  that  many  plants  are 
cut  off  at  the  surface,  as  if  some  mischievous  person 
had  been  trying  to  discover  how  many  plants  he 
could  behead  during  the  night.  This  destructive 
work  is  so  familiar  to  every  planter  that  he  at  once 
realizes  that  it  is  the  work  of  cut  worms.  The 
well-known  authors  of  these  midnight  raids  are 
the  caterpillars  or  worms.  There  are  a  number 
of  different  kinds,  and  the  life-history  of  these  sev- 
eral species  varies  considerably;  in  the  case  of  a 


COTTON  191 

number  of  them  it  has  never  been  accurately 
ascertained. 

The  worms  are  generally  of  a  brown,  gray  or 
greenish  color,  often  marked  with  longitudinal 
stripes  and  dashes.  They  are  stout,  and  when  full 
grown  are  often  almost  two  inches  in  length. 
There  are  three  pairs  of  regular  legs  on  the  front 
portion  of  the  body  besides  the  fleshy  appendages 
further  back  on  the  prolegs. 

Their  feeding  is  done  only  at  night,  and  for  this 
reason  their  presence  is  usually  discovered  only 
after  the  damage  has  been  done.  During  the  day 
they  hide  near  the  plants,  frequently  entering  the 
ground,  and  leaving  a  little  hole  where  they  went  in. 
Some  species  remain  entirely  under  ground,  often 
pulling  the  plant  down  into  the  soil. 

By  thorough  cultivation  of  the  land  in  late  fall, 
winter,  and  early  spring,  much  can  be  done  toward 
controlling  these  pests.  Thus  exposed  to  adverse 
weather  conditions,  many  of  them  will  die,  while 
others  are  eaten  by  birds  or  killed  by  parasitic 
insects.  Furthermore,  land  plowed  during  winter 
has  no  vegetation  on  it  in  early  spring,  and  conse- 
quently there  is  no  food  for  these  worms  to  feed  on. 
Frequently,  of  course,  the  farmer  cannot  apply 
these  preventive  measures,  and  when  the  pests 
then  become  destructive,  they  may  be  destroyed  by 
scattering  poisoned  vegetation  over  the  infested 
portions  of  the  field.  Bunches  of  grass  may  be 
immersed  in  Paris  Green,  one  pound  to  a  barrel 
of  water. 

VI. THE    GARDEN    WEB    WORM 

In  early  spring  we  often  see  a  great  number 
of  small  caterpillars  feeding  on  the  surface  of  cotton 


192  COTTON 

leaves  under  a  thin  web  spun  over  the  leaf.  On 
account  of  the  fact  that  these  worms  are  often 
found  on  "careless  weed"  many  farmers  call  them 
"careless  worms,"  and  where  the  planter  allows 
these  weeds  to  grow  unchecked,  these  caterpil- 
lars are  always  worse.  When  winter  approaches 
the  caterpillar  enters  the  ground  as  a  larva,  often 
becoming  a  pupa.  They  emerge  the  following 
spring.  The  female  lays  about  50  eggs,  putting 
them  in  several  bunches  on  the  leaves  of  the  cotton, 
and  these  eggs  hatch  in  a  few  days.  These  first 
caterpillars  are  miscellaneous  feeders,  attacking 
alfalfa  and  various  garden  vegetables.  The  second 
brood  is  injurious  to  cotton.  In  the  far  South 
there  are  upwards  of  five  or  six  broods  a  year. 

Clean  cultivation  is  the  most  effective  preven- 
tive of  the  development  of  this  pest.  This  will 
destroy  the  weeds  upon  which  they  feed.  Where 
they  have  become  destructive  to  cotton  they  may  be 
easily  destroyed  by  dusting  the  plants  with  Paris 
Green  or  some  similar  insecticide. 

VII. THE    COTTON    SQUARE    BORER 

We  have  already  considered  the  work  of  the  cot- 
ton boll  worm  and  have  learned  how  it  bores  holes 
in  the  squares  and  bolls.  We  have  learned  the 
appearance  of  the  caterpillars  and  feel  that  we  shall 
know  them  every  time  we  see  them.  When  we  go 
through  the  cotton  field,  however,  we  may  see  an- 
other insect  doing  work  similar  to  that  of  the  boll 
worm,  but  clearly  a  different  insect.  It  is  a  short, 
thick  caterpillar  covered  with  hair,  and  has  a  uni- 
formly green  appearance.  These  insects  are  called 
Cotton-square  Borers.  The  mother  of  these 
green,  oval-shaped  caterpillars  is  a  dainty  little 


COTTON  193 

butterfly.  The  eggs  are  laid  on  the  leaves  and 
stems  of  cotton,  cowpeas,  and  various  other  plants. 
The  larvtE  feed  on  beans,  cowpeas,  hops,  and 
peaches,  but  seem  to  prefer  cotton. 

It  is  rarely  necessary  that  we  need  to  apply  reme- 
dies, although  a  thorough  dusting  with  Paris  Green 
will  control  the  pests.  In  most  cases,  however,  the 
little  wasps  that  are  parasitic  upon  the  borers  are 
so  numerous  as  to  hold  them  completely  in  check. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

HARVEST  TIME   IN   THE   COTTON   FIELD 

Every  crop  is  interesting  at  harvest  time;  but 
especially  is  this  true  of  cotton.  Even  the  poorly 
tended  field  with  its  short  stalks  and  open  ground 
becomes  spectacular  in  appearance  as  the  bolls 
burst  and  reveal  their  fleecy  treasures,  soft,  abun- 
dant and  snowy  white. 

To  this  scene  add  hosts  of  workers  of  all  shades 
of  color,  and  of  every  size  from  the  toddling  babe 
to  the  tottering  grandfather,  and  here  and  there 
spot  the  picture  with  mounds  of  white  made  of  the 
picked  cotton — then  indeed  you  have  a  scene  that 
will  never  leave  the  mind,  and  will  hold  the  gaze 
until  it  fades  away  in  the  distance.  Such  is  pick- 
ing time  in  the  cotton  field:  such  is  the  reward 
of  a  season's  endeavor. 

HOW    PICKING    IS    DONE 

The  only  equipment  necessary  for  cotton  picking 
is  a  common  sack  suspended  from  the  shoulder  and 
open  at  the  mouth  into  which  the  cotton  is  placed 
as  it  is  pulled  from  the  open  bolls.  It  is  very  light 
work — more  so  than  harvesting  any  other  sort 
of  crop.  Often  the  best  pickers  in  the  cotton  field 
are  women  and  younc^  children.  The  arduous  part 
of  the  picking  operation  is  the  stooping  necessary 

(194) 


COTTON  195 

to  gather  cotton  from  the  lower  bolls.  The  lugging 
of  the  load  as  picked  is  inconsiderable,  since  large 
baskets  are  kept  at  the  ends  of  the  rows  into  which 
the  pickers  empty  their  sacks  as  often  as  they  wish. 

Cotton  is  picked  largely  by  colored  labor;  and 
with  the  negro's  careless,  "happy-go-lucky"  na- 
ture, some  loss  is  but  a  natural  result.  This  loss 
principally  comes  from  cotton  falling  out;  from  its 
being  soiled  by  dirt;  and  from  small  locks  being 
left  in  the  bolls. 

The  quantity  that  each  picker  will  gather  in  a 
day  naturally  varies,  since  people  of  both  sexes  and 
all  ages  do  this  work.  Some  hands  gather  less 
than  100  pounds  a  day,  while  others,  where  condi- 
tions are  favorable,  gather  as  much  as  300  to  350 
as  their  day's  work. 

HOW  LARGE  A  CROP  CAN  OUR  PICKERS  GATHER  ? 

The  picking  season  extends  through  a  period  of 
from  90  to  100  days.  This  is  an  important  advan- 
tage in  cotton  production.  With  wheat,  a  few 
days  only  may  be  devoted  to  the  harvest,  and  if 
the  harvest  period  is  extended,  the  loss  will  be 
great.  With  our  hay  crops,  with  corn,  with  tobac- 
co, the  same  thing  is  true:  inevitable  loss  if  the 
harvest  work  is  not  promptly  done  and  done  within 
narrow  limits  indeed. 

But  with  cotton  it  is  different.  Some  loss,  of 
course,  follows,  should  picking  be  unreasonably 
postponed.  Some  of  the  cotton  may  be  beaten  into 
the  ground  by  rains  and  the  rest  may  be  injured 
slightly  in  quality;  still  the  work  may  be  long  de- 
layed without  very  serious  damage.  We  have 
known  crops  in  which  the  picking  was  not  quite 
completed   until   the  following  spring,   when  the 


196  COTTON 

farmer  began  preparing  for  planting  again.  The 
full  crop,  we  see,  does  not  ripen  at  once.  Again 
and  still  again  harvest  comes,  and  gives  a  long  sea- 
son for  the  gathering  of  the  crop  from  the  earliest 
to  the  latest  pickings. 

"But  is  the  production  of  cotton  limited  at  the 
present  time  by  the  quantity  that  could  be  gather- 
ed.^"  is  a  question  often  asked. 

Here  is  the  opinion  of  an  expert : 

*'  Excluding  the  population  of  towns  and  villages, 
who  do  a  considerable  share  in  cotton  picking,  and 
deducting  one-third  for  children  under  eleven 
years  of  age,  there  remains  an  exclusively  rural 
population  in  the  Cotton  States  of  over  6,800,000, 
all  more  or  less  occupied  in  cotton-growing,  and 
capable,  at  the  low  average  of  100  pounds  daily, 
of  picking  more  than  450,000  bales  a  day  (or  the 
crop  of  1905  in  three  weeks) ;  and  if  they  continued 
picking  at  this  rate  through  the  whole  season,  they 
could  gather  four  or  five  times  as  much  as  the 
largest  crop  ever  yet  made." 

COST    OF    PICKING 

Picking  costs  from  forty  cents  to  one  dollar  per 
hundred  pounds  of  seed  cotton — fifty  cents  being 
perhaps  the  usual  price — and  it  takes  three  hun- 
dred pounds  of  seed  cotton  to  make  one  hundred 
pounds  of  lint;  that  is  to  say,  two-thirds  of  the 
weight  of  cotton  when  picked  is  seed.  With  an 
average  price  of  seventy-five  cents  per  hundred, 
the  cost  per  pound  for  picking  is  2.2  cents.  With 
cotton  selling  at  ten  cents  per  pound,  it  is  seen  that 
more  than  one-fifth  of  this  amount  goes  simply  for 
labor  of  picking.  As  cotton  sold  for  a  number  of 
years  at  six  cents  a  pound,  with  the  cost  of  picking 


COTTON  197 

only  a  little  less  than  now,  one  can  readily  see  what 
a  factor  in  cotton  production  is  this  one  item  of 
gathering  the  crop.  For  wheat  we  may  reckon 
one  dollar  as  an  average  price.  What  would  you 
think  of  20  cents  per  bushel  for  labor  in  the  har- 
vest field  .^^  With  cotton,  too,  it  costs  practically 
the  same  for  picking  whether  the  price  is  six,  eight 
or  ten  cents  per  pound.  Surely  it  is  selling  for 
little  enough  now.  We  read  of  the  enormous  value 
of  the  1905  cotton  crop,  but  it  is  well  to  remember 
that  it  cost  the  cotton  farmer  about  seventy-five 
million  dollars  to  gather  it  after  the  crop  was  grown. 

WEIGHING 

As  the  pickers  fill  their  sacks  they  return  to  some 
convenient  place  where  the  sacks  are  emptied,  and 
then  back  again  they  go  to  picking  again,  and  thus 
they  work  for  the  greater  part  of  the  day.  The 
cotton  is  emptied  into  baskets  or  put  into  piles  on 
blankets  or  cloths  of  some  sort.  At  night,  or  when 
the  field  is  picked  over,  the  owner  weighs  the  picked 
cotton  and  either  pays  or  credits  each  picker  for 
the  quantity  gathered.  Many  of  these  piles  are 
made;  as  many  as  there  are  individual  families  or 
pickers.  It  is  the  only  way  to  determine  the 
amount  earned,  which  is  then  easily  calculated. 
This  cotton  is  called  seed  cotton,  and  after  weigh- 
ing, it  is  hauled  to  the  barn,  "cotton  house,"  or 
other  place  of  storage. 

THE    COTTON    PICKER 

As  has  already  been  indicated,  the  draft  on  cot- 
ton  profits  is   greatest  for    picking.     We   gather 


198  COTTON 

cotton  to-day  just  as  it  was  done  in  India  a  thou- 
sand years  ago.  Hand  picking,  hand  harvesting, 
is  not  only  the  rule,  but  it  is  the  only  method  of 
gathering  the  lint. 

Other  crops  have  labor-saving  devices  in  use  in 
this  final  phase  of  their  production.  With  wheat, 
corn,  oats,  potatoes, — all  our  leading  crops, — while 
the  cost  of  production  has  been  lessened  in  our 
time,  the  cost  of  harvesting  has  been  reduced  many 
times.  With  cotton  it  is  different.  Slave  labor 
passed;  paid  labor  took  its  place.  And  labor  cost 
is  steadily  increasing.  It  costs  more  to-day  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago,  more  than  it  did  a  decade 
ago. 

The  great  hope  of  the  South  then  lies  in  the  di- 
rection of  better  labor-saving  devices  for  lessening 
the  cost  of  cotton  production!  Some  will  come, 
of  course,  for  better  preparation  for  the  crop,  and 
for  its  better  culture,  thereby  increasing  the  yield : 
but  the  greatest  improvement  will  be  found  when 
the  cotton  crop  may  be  picked  with  somewhat  the 
same  independence  of  hand  labor  as  obtains  in  the 
harvesting  of  other  staple  crops. 

You  think  this  can  never  come  ? 

We  were  fifty  years  producing  the  wheat  har- 
vester, and  from  its  nature — gathering  grain,  cutting 
it,  and  binding  it — are  not  as  many  features  included 
and  complications  involved  as  in  the  harvesting  of 
cotton  ? 

The  cotton  picker  will  come.  In  its  experimen- 
tal stage  now,  it  is  not  to  be  dismissed  with  a  mere 
wave  of  the  hand.  It  picks  now.  That  much  is 
certain.  The  time  will  come  when  it  will  pick 
profitably. 

The  successful  cotton  picker  has  only  to  do  the 
work  eflSciently  and  cheaply.     It  must  be  built  to 


COTTON  199 

pick  the  open  cotton  without  injury  to  plant  or  un- 
opened bolls. 

The  fact  that  cotton  opens  slowly,  necessitates, 
as  has  been  seen,  three,  four,  or  even  five  pickings, 
and  this  complicates  cotton  harvesting:  but  if  rows 
are  placed  at  proper  distances,  fields  planned  for 
horse  or  steam  drawn  tools,  the  cotton  picker  may 
be  operated  twice  or  three  times  without  serious 
injury  to  plants  or  bolls. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

WHAT    DOES    IT    COST   TO    MAKE    COTTON? 

You  may  think  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  calculate 
the  cost  of  cotton-growing  and  the  profits  that  are  to 
come.  But  you  will  do  well  if  you  put  a  good 
deal  of  study  on  this  problem,  and  then  as  a  final 
proof  that  your  solution  is  correct,  make  actual 
field  tests,  not  for  one  but  for  many  years.  Nor 
need  you  then  feel  absolutely  certain  of  your  pro- 
cess of  reasoning. 

Why  do  we  say  this  ? 

Just  remember  this  fact:  you  are  dealing  all  the 
while  with  natural  and  artificial  conditions,  and 
while  wise  farm  management  endeavors  to  control 
these,  it  still  remains  true  that  cotton  farming  is 
dependent  on  natural  causes  which  vary  constantly, 
often  to  such  an  extent  that  the  most  careful  cal- 
culations will  be  upset. 

For  proof  of  this  proposition  you  need  consider 
only  the  production  of  cotton  during  the  last  few 
years.  The  yield  in  bales  and  production  per  acre 
is  shown  in  the  table  following: 

YIELD    OF    COTTON 


Year 

Production, 
in  bales 

Product  per  acre, 
pounds 

1898 
1899 

11,235,383 
9,439,559 

240 
189 

(200) 


*t-^, 


3  s 


1^ 


MAKIXCi  (OITON  WITHOUT  HAND  CllOrPIXCi. 

Hy  the  use  of  cultivators,  harrow-,  etc.,  farmers  are  enabled  to  make  good  crops 
entirely  without  hanil  chopping — a  great  saving  in  cost.  The  bottom  picture  i» 
that  of  a  field  in  which  cotton  ha.s  been  grown  for  fifty  years. 


COTTON 

YIELD    OF    COTTON 

(Continued) 

Year 

Production, 

Product  per  acre, 

in  bales 

pounds 

1900 

10,425,141 

193 

1901 

10,701,433 

186 

1902 

10,758,326 

192 

1903 

10,123,886 

170 

1904 

13,556,841 

207 

1905 

10,697,013 

205 

201 


No  one  needs  to  be  told  that  these  fluctuations 
were  due  to  natural  causes.  The  same  farmers 
tilled  the  same  kind  of  land,  used  the  same  kinds 
of  fertilizers,  followed  the  same  methods  of  culture, 
picked  the  fiber  in  the  same  manner,  during  all  these 
years.  There  is  some  fluctuation  in  acreage,  to 
be  sure,  but  we  are  now  referring  to  the  yield  per 
acre.  The  difference  in  yield  between  1903  and 
1904,  for  instance,  is  thirty-seven  pounds  per  acre, 
or  a  variation  of  more  than  twenty  per  cent.  In 
this  case  acreage  did  not  influence  the  yield,  since 
it  was  greater  the  year  the  largest  area  was  planted. 
Neither  smaller  productivity  of  the  land  nor  the 
grower's  carelessness  in  culture  could  possibly  have 
influenced  these  results  unless  they  acted  in  keeping 
the  differences  within  closer  limits.  The  same 
wide  difference  is  noted  when  the  years  1898  and 
1899  are  compared,  only  here  the  variation  is  even 
greater — 51  pounds,  or  a  difference  of  more  than 
thirty  per  cent. 

This  inability  on  the  part  of  the  cotton  farmer 
to  control  his  output  acts  immensely  to  his  dis- 
advantage not  only  in  estimating  his  yearly  ex- 
penses, but  in  marketing  his  crops  as  well. 

Quite  different  is  it  with  the  man  who  buys  cot- 
ton and  manufactures  it. 


202  COTTON 

He  is  able  to  calculate  with  more  accuracy.  As 
a  rule,  he  knows  what  his  raw  product  will  cost. 
He  estimates  what  his  operating  expenses  will  be 
and  sells  his  product,  including  his  many  items  of 
expense,  at  a  profit  as  great  as  competition  will 
permit.  While  he  has  troubles  to  bother  him, 
they  are  small  indeed  when  compared  with  those 
of  the  farmer — troubles  that  begin  even  before  the 
crop  is  started  and  only  end  when  the  last  bale  is 
sold. 

The  mere  fact  that  the  quantity  fluctuates,  is 
enough  to  show  that  the  farmer  deals  with  factors 
beyond   his   control. 

Let  us  suppose  a  cotton  factory  produced  one 
year  10,000,000  pounds  of  product,  the  next  year 
12,000,000  pounds,  the  next  year  7,500,000  pounds, 
and  the  next  9,000,000  pounds,  all  unexpected 
results,  not  in  the  calculation  of  the  management: 
do  you  think  if  such  results  were  produced,  the 
manufacturer  could  make  any  very  close  estimate 
on  the  cost  of  1,000  pounds  of  product;  or  do  you 
think  he  could  remain  long  out  of  bankruptcy, 
unless  his  profits  some  years  were  very  great 
indeed  ? 

But  the  manufacturer  may  even  sell  his  product 
before  he  makes  it.  If  he  can  arrange  with  his 
labor,  and  purchase  his  raw  material,  he  knows 
within  close  limits  just  what  his  business  will  do 
during  the  year.  With  the  farmer  this  can  never 
be  the  case.  He  knows  not  twenty-four  hours 
ahead  that  some  insect  may  not  damage  his  crop,  or 
that  some  disease  may  not  destroy  it  in  part;  nor 
does  he  know  that  wet  weather  may  not  come  and 
injure  bloom  and  boll  and  plant,  or  give  him  trouble 
with  his  ever-ready  enemies,  weeds  and  grass. 
One  day  he  may  be  glad  and  rejoice  for  what  his 


COTTON  203 

crop  may  do  for  him,  but  on  the  next,  hope  and 
expectancy  may  have  departed. 

With  exactness  he  cannot  calculate — he  can  only 
anticipate,  hope,  plan  for  the  best. 

The  point  is,  the  cotton  farmer  cannot  estimate 
at  the  beginning  of  the  year  just  what  his  total 
outlay  for  his  crop  will  be;  nor  can  he  bargain  on 
final  yields  or  results.  This,  however,  the  manu- 
facturer can  do,  and  he  does  so  with  advantage  to 
himself. 

It  follows  that  the  farmer  is  entitled  to  the  right 
of  considerable  margin  as  to  cost  of  production 
when  compared  with  the  price  it  shall  bring  on  the 
market.  These  risks  which  he  has  to  encounter  all 
along  the  growing  route  are  just  as  legitimate  for 
use  in  the  final  calculation  as  waste  of  fiber,  vari- 
ation in  cost  of  power,  strikes,  depreciation  in 
equipment,  etc.,  are  essential  factors  in  considering 
the  final  cost -estimate  in  the  cotton  factory. 

NATURAL  CONDITIONS  THAT  INFLUENCE 
PRODUCTION 

Were  it  not  for  uncertain  natural  conditions 
cotton  farming  would  be  more  stable  in  its  ability 
to  produce  certain  and  constant  results,  and  the 
farmer  also  would  be  able  to  calculate  his  profits 
on  his  labor  and  equipment  in  advance,  and  with 
reasonable  accuracy.  A  few  of  these  active,  ever- 
present  conditions  are: 

Variation  in  productivity  of  the  soil; 

Wet  or  dry  seasons; 

Diseases  and  insects  affecting  the  crop  adversely; 

Ease  of  securing  labor,  its  cost  and  efficiency; 

Efficiency  of  fertilizers  for  different  seasons ; 

Different  tools  of  culture  for  different  seasons ; 


204  COTTON 

Failure  of  other  crops  incidental  to  our  system 
of  cotton  farming  ; 

Uncertainty  in  knowledge  of  factors  governing 
cotton  growing  ; 

Fluctuation  in  market  value. 

All  these  and  many  other  conditions  influence 
the  cost  of  production,  either  favorably  or  un- 
favorably, each  and  every  year, — and  to  such  an 
extent  that  final  and  sure  results  are  still  unknown 
until  the  crop  is  marketed. 

TWO    PRACTICAL   ILLUSTRATIONS 

We  will  take  two  cases,  not  fictitious,  but  true 
ones;  the  farms  are  near  together,  similar  in  size, 
soil,  environments,  influenced  by  the  same  seasons 
and  climatic  conditions,  accessible  to  the  same 
markets.  Will  the  cost  of  producing  a  pound  of 
cotton  be  the  same  on  both  farms.? 

Let  the  figures  speak  for  themselves;  they  are 
the  results  from  two  prominent  cotton  farms: 

EXPENSES    IN    COTTON    PRODUCTION    PER  ACRE 
Items  of  Expense  Farm  A  Farm  B 

Plowing  $1.50  $2.50 

Harrowing .50  .50 

Bedding  and  applying  fertihzer  • .      2.00  1.00 

Planting 50  .75 

Chopping    2.00  1.50 

Cultivation 6.00  8.75 

Seed 50  .50 

Fertilizer 6.00  7.50 

Picking 4.20  4.60 

Ginning  1.00  1.00 

Other  expenses    1.75  2.70 

Totals  carried  forward $25.95      $30.30 


COTTON  205 

EXPENSES  IN  COTTON  PRODUCTION  PER  ACRE 

(Continued) 
Items  of  Expense  Farm  A  Farm  B 

Totals   brought  forward $25.95      $30.30 

Less  value  of  seed 5.60  5.84 

Expenses  in  producing  lint-  • $20.35      $24.46 

Yield  in  pounds,  lint  cotton 350  365 

Expense  per  pound  lint  cotton..  .       5.8c  6.7c 

Market  value  lint  at  10  cents.  . .  •  $35.00  $36.50 

Receipts  per  acre  above  expense.  .  $14.65  $12.04 

The  results  on  these  two  farms  show  a  difference 
of  nearly  one  cent  a  pound  in  cost  of  producing 
lint  cotton,  and  here,  too,  rather  good  farming  is 
done,  since  the  yields  obtained  are  nearly  twice 
the  average  production  for  the  Cotton  Belt. 

But  let  us  take  other  examples  that  more  nearly 
correspond  to  the  average  for  the  whole  country. 
Like  the  preceding  two,  they  are  also  actual 
results  produced  on  three  average  farms : 

EXPENSES  IN  COTTON  PRODUCTION  ON  BASIS 
OF  AN  ACRE 

Items  of  Expense  Farm  C         Farm  D  Farm  E 

Plowing $1.25  $1.00  $1.00 

Harrowing 50  .50  .15 

Bedding  and  Adding  Fer- 
tilizer       1.75  1.50  1.12 

Planting 40  .25  .25 

Chopping 50  1.50  .75 

Carried  forward $4.40       $4 .  75       $3.27 


206  COTTON 

EXPENSES  IN  COTTON  PRODUCTION  ON  BASIS 

OF  AN  ACRE (Continued) 

Items  of  Expense  Farm  C  Farm  D         Farm  E 

Brought  forward $4 .  40  $4 .  75  $3 .  27 

Cultivation 2.50  2.00  2.75 

Seed 50  .35  .25 

Fertilizer 3.75  3.00  2.00 

Picking 4.00  3.00  3.00 

Ginning 1.25  .75  .65 

Other   expenses 1.00  2.00  3.00 

Totals $17.40     $15.85     $14.92 

Less  value  of  seed 4.80         3.20         3.00 

Expenses    in    producing 

lint $12.60     $12.65     $11.92 

Yield  in  pounds  of   lint 

cotton 300  200  250 

Expenses   per    pound   of 

lint  cotton 4 .  2c         5 .  8c  4 .  8c 

Market  value  lint  at   10 

cents $30 .  00     $20 .  00     $25 .  00 

Receipts  per  acre  above 

expense $17.40     $7.35       $13.08 

The  results  as  shown  in  these  instances  give  us 
an  idea  of  the  range  in  expense  account  on  farms 
where  the  yield  varies  from  one-half  to  three- 
quarters  of  a  bale  per  acre.  It  will  be  seen  that 
they  represent  neither  extreme,  and  can  be  taken 
as  showing  about  average  results. 

We  will  now  carry  these  estimates  still  further 
by  considering  statistical  averages  from  a  large 
number  of  sources,  representing  different  soils,  and 
different  climatic  conditions,  in  our  several  Cotton 
States.     The  results  are  as  follows : 


COTTON  207 

AVERAGE    EXPENSES    IN    COTTON    PRODUCTION 

ON  BASIS  OF  AN  ACRE 
Items  of  Expense  Many  Farms 

Plowing $1.55 

Harrowing .52 

Bedding  and  Adding  Fertilizers 1 .65 

Planting .44 

Chopping 1 .  34 

Cultivation 3 .  75 

Seed .35 

Fertilizer 4 .  75 

Picking 4.55 

Ginning 1 .  35 

Other  expenses 2 .  88 

Total $23.13 

Less  value  of  seed • 4 .  72 

Average  acre  expense  of  producing  lint ...  $18.41 

Average  yield  of  lint  cotton  in  pounds .  . .  296 

Expense  per  pound  lint  cotton 6 .  2c 

Market  value  of  lint  at  10  cents $29 .  69 

Receipts  per  acre  above  expense $11 .  10 

WHAT    COST    MEANS 

Estimates  showing  "  cost  of  production  '*  are  free- 
ly made  and  often  are  misleading,  because  they  are 
based  solely  on  items  of  expense  incidental  to  pro- 
ducing the  crop  during  its  growing  period  only. 
The  cost  of  production  ascertained  in  this  manner 
is  incomplete  since  it  leaves  out  of  consideration 
many  items  that  are  necessary  and  legitimate  and 
which  must  be  included  if  a  fair  and  accurate 
statement  is  to  be  made. 

On  many  farms  cotton  is  the  only  crop  produced ; 
even  feed  for  work  stock  (and  this  is  not  uncommon) 


208  COTTON 

and  the  work  stock  itself  are  not.  home-produced, 
but  purchased  in  the  open  market  just  as  suppHes 
and  equipment  are  for  the  cotton  factory.  As  a 
rule,  work  stock  is  permanent  equipment  for  the 
cotton  crop  alone,  and  cotton  must  support  it, 
just  as  land  is  permanent  capital,  and  land  is  not 
employed  during  the  whole  of  the  year :  there  is  no 
reason  why  they  should  be  omitted  in  the  final 
settlement.  The  investment  is  made  and  an  al- 
lowance of  interest  must  follow,  teams  must  be  fed, 
and  the  maintenance  of  the  plant  continued — all 
items  of  legitimate  expense  which  must  rightly  be 
considered  in  calculating  the  real  cost  of  produc- 
tion. 

"But  why  charge  cotton  with  the  support  of 
teams  during  the  winter  season  .^"  you  ask. 

Who  will  feed  them.?  Your  neighbor  will  not, 
neither  will  the  State.  On  most  farms  they  belong 
to  the  cotton  equipment.  Of  course,  where  they 
are  employed  for  other  purposes,  a  proper  credit 
to  cotton  should  be  made,  but  in  the  winter  season 
as  a  rule,  both  labor  and  teams  are  idle,  and  cotton 
should  bear  its  part  of  this  expense. 

You  see  there  are  other  charges  to  be  added  to 
the  amount  required  for  the  mere  production  of 
the  crop. 

Here  are  a  few  that  must  be  included : 
Taxation  of  land,  tools,  and  teams. 
Allowances  for  interest   on   land,   tools   and 

teams. 
Allowance  for  depreciation  of  tools  and  teams. 
Maintenance  of  land  and  teams. 

Taxation: — On  the  basis  of  the  product  of  one 
horse  or  mule,  we  have  twenty  acres  of  land,  valued 
at  fifteen  dollars  per  acre;  one  working  animal 
valued  at  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and  tools 


HOPE  AND  REALIZATION. 

Disking  land  preparatory  to  planting  cotton;  and  the  final  cultivation  before 
the  crop  is  "laid  by"  in  July. 


COTTON  209 

valued  at  about  seventy-five  dollars ;  a  total  of  five 
hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars, — a  reasonably 
low  estimate,  you  will  admit.  On  this  amount 
taxes  will  be  three  dollars. 

Interest: — The  investment  should  realize  six 
per  cent.:  this  is  a  simple  business  proposition 
with  banks,  as  well  as  with  all  investing  enterprises. 
This  calls  for  a  charge  against  cotton  for  thirty 
dollars. 

Depreciation: — The  average  working  life  of  a 
horse  or  mule  is  ten  years ;  therefore  the  cotton  crop 
here  must  make  good  an  annual  depreciation  of  fif- 
teen dollars,  and  also  keep  in  repair  stock,  imple- 
ments, and  tools,  which  on  the  cotton  farm  is  at 
least  ten  dollars,  or  a  total  of  twenty-five  dollars. 

Maintenance: — At  least  twenty-five  cents  per 
acre  is  expended  each  year  in  maintaining  the  land. 
Terraces  must  be  kept  up,  ditches  must  be  opened, 
brush  and  shrubs  cleaned  away:  a  cost  here  of  five 
dollars  annually.  Then  the  horse  must  be  fed 
throughout  the  year.  At  least  half  the  time  he  is 
non-supporting,  and  cotton  should  pay  his  bill  for 
board.  The  occasional  use  will  cover  his  care. 
Hence  a  charge  of  forty  dollars  is  to  be  made:  a 
total  of  forty-five  dollars  for  the  yearly  expense  of 
maintenance  of  land  and  stock. 

We  get  then  the  following  additional  amounts 
that  must  be  included  in  the  cost  of  cotton  pro- 
duction : 

Taxation $3 .  00 

Interest 30 .  00 

Depreciation 25 .  00 

Maintenance 45 .  00 

Total $103.00 

Cost  per  acre 5.15 


210  COTTON 

This  estimate  is  based  on  a  cotton  farm  of  twenty 
acres  which  produces  an  average  of  200  pounds  of 
lint  cotton  per  acre  or  4,000  pounds  as  a  total  prod- 
uct. These  additional  charges  now  should  be 
added  to  the  expense  incurred  during  the  six 
months  of  the  growing  season.  When  this  addi- 
tional cost,  on  basis  of  calculation  suggested,  is 
included  in  the  expense,  we  have  obtained  a  figure 
that  reasonably  represents  the  cost  per  pound  of 
cotton  production  as  follows: 


Cost              Farm  A 

FarmB 

Farm  C       Farm  D 

FarmE  All  0th 

ers 

Growing       5 . 8 

6.7 

4.2       5.8 

4.8       6, 

.2 

Additional    1 . 5 

1.4 
8.1 

1.7       2.6 

2.0       1 

.7 

Totals       7.3 

5.9       8.4 

6.8       7, 

.9 

DIFFERENCE 

BETWEEN      COST     AND 
PRICE 

MARKET 

So  far  in  our  estimate  no  allowance  has  been 
made  for  directive  effort  save  in  that  of  labor  itself. 
But  this  the  cotton  farmer  is  entitled  to,  since  he  is 
both  a  laborer  and  a  capitalist;  when  considered  in 
connection  with  the  value  of  his  product,  to  a 
considerable  extent,  he  is  both.  The  difference  re- 
maining between  the  cost  of  production  and  market 
value  of  the  crop  comes  now  as  profit  to  cover  such 
charges  as  are  included  in  superintendency,  in  the 
duties  of  the  producer  as  a  citizen,  in  the  risks  he 
runs  as  to  profit  or  loss  in  his  enterprise,  and  in 
accumulating  gain. 

RELATION  OF  OTHER  EMPLOYMENT  TO  COTTON 
PRODUCTION 

The  cotton  farmer  has  a  perfect  right  to  carry  on 


COTTON  211 

other  farming  enterprises  as  well  as  cotton.  But 
they  are  separate  and  distinct  in  themselves.  If 
he  can  so  connect  them  with  his  cotton  enterprise 
that  these  and  cotton  work  to  advantage  so  that 
the  cost  of  production  is  lessened,  that  is  his  right 
and  to  his  credit  as  a  business  man.  But  cotton 
farming  must  stand  on  its  own  feet  and  not  exist 
at  the  expense  of  the  cow  or  the  pig.  You  may  be 
sure,  in  case  you  think  you  are  producing  cotton 
very  cheaply,  that  the  tenant,  or  cord  wood,  or  hay, 
the  steer,  or  the  old  hen,  one  or  all,  are  contributing 
very  materially  to  the  pocket  that  pays  the  cotton 
bills. 

RELATION  OF  COST  TO  SELLING  PRICE 

Naturally  some  farms  produce  cotton  more  cheap- 
ly than  do  others.  On  a  basis  of  cost,  a  reasonable 
selling  price  on  the  average  is  ten  cents  per  pound  ; 
it  is  mere  wages  when  below  that.  Like  other  prod- 
ucts, cotton  sells  in  the  face  of  supply  and  demand. 
When  earnestly  wanted  the  farmer's  accumulative 
gain  is  greater,  but  not  out  of  the  range  of  the  very 
supplies  he  constantly  purchases. 


SECTION  III. 
MARKETING  AND  PRICES 


(216) 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

PREPARING   FOR   MARKETING!  THE  WORK  OF 
THE    COTTON   GIN 

Cotton  production  in  the  Southern  States  owes 
its  great  development  to  a  simple  invention  which 
must  be  considered  one  of  the  greatest  connected 
with  the  marvelous  rise  of  American  agriculture. 

When  cotton  is  gathered  from  bolls  it  is  known 
as  seed  cotton  from  the  fact  that  it  contains  both 
seed  and  cotton  lint — two-thirds  seed  to  one-third 
lint.  To  prepare  cotton  therefore  for  the  market 
and  for  commerce,  it  is  necessary  first  to  separate 
these  two  products.  This  work  is  now  done  by 
means  of  the  gin. 

In  1790  but  3000  bales  of  cotton  were  produced 
in  the  Southern  States:  in  the  year  1904  more  than 
13,000,000  bales  were  produced. 

Why  this  remarkable  difference  in  production? 
Naturally  the  demands  of  the  world  have  influenced 
this  production;  improved  tillage  and  cultural 
tools  have  played  a  considerable  part  in  lessening 
the  cost;  commercial  fertilizers  have  increased 
yields  without  additional  labor  and  with  relatively 
small  cost;  but  for  an  answer  to  our  question  we 
must  go  first  of  all  to  that  invention  which  has 
made  the  name  of  Eli  Whitney  immortal. 

To  the  cotton  gin  the  greatest  credit  must  be 
given.     With  seed  picked  by  hand,  cotton  produc- 


216  COTTON 

tion  could  never  have  become  a  commercial  enter- 
prise of  more  than  local  interest.  With  seed  picked 
by  hand  cotton  manufacturing  would  never  have 
developed.  Some  other  fiber — wool  or  flax — 
might  have  been  King,  but  cotton  never. 

It  required  the  cotton  gin — doing  the  work  of 
picking  by  other  power  than  by  hand, — to  develop 
this  industry,  and  make  it  rank  as  second  to  none 
in  all  the  world. 

THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    COTTON    GIN 

Eli  Whitney,  to  whom  the  world  credits  the  cot- 
ton gin,  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  and  a  native 
of  Massachusetts.  He  possessed  an  inventive 
spirit  and  a  full  knowledge  of  mechanical  devices. 
Seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-two  found  him 
on  his  way  to  South  Carolina  where  he  ex- 
pected to  follow  teaching  as  a  profession.  But 
greater  things  were  in  store  for  him:  his  genius 
was  to  be  directed  in  another  way;  a  larger 
service  to  the  race  was  to  be  his.  For  some 
reason  his  arrangements  for  teaching  miscarried, 
and  he  was  left  without  employment.  He  was  in 
a  strange  land,  he  had  no  work  to  which  he  might 
go,  and  was  without  means  to  begin  any  new  enter- 
prise. Chance  favored  him,  however.  Soon  after 
nis  arrival  an  invitation  to  visit  a  friend  came  to 
him.  He  accepted,  and  while  sharing  this  hospi- 
tality with  others  who  also  came  to  enjoy  the 
warmth  of  the  South  Carolina  home,  Whitney 
learned  of  the  difficulties  of  the  Southern  planter, 
and  especially  of  the  great  difficulty  that  stood  in 
the  way  of  the  development  and  production  of  a 
great  cotton  crop.  Just  how  this  matter  was  pre- 
sented; in  just  what  form  it  came  to  his  attention, 


COTTON  217 

we  do  not  know.  Whether  or  not  the  thought  had 
its  birth  in  his  fertile  mind  is  also  a  mystery.  But 
this  matters  not.  He  became  interested  in  the 
great  problem  of  profitable  cotton  production. 
Maybe  this  was  a  problem  of  the  plantation  where 
he  resided;  maybe  the  thought  came  as  a  chance 
suggestion.  Be  that  as  it  may,  he  made  the  prob- 
lem his.  He  fitted  up  his  shop  and  went  to  work. 
His  educational  equipment  and  his  mechanical 
inclination  favored  him,  and  soon  hope  came,  the 
clouds  parted,  the  ideal  became  more  than  a  fancy. 
Soon  it  was  a  reality,  the  cotton  gin  a  material 
thing. 

Of  course  it  was  crude,  undeveloped,  only  par- 
tially practical  at  first.  The  next  year  the  patent 
was  granted  and  given  to  the  world. 

The  germinal  idea  was  alive,  its  incubation  soon 
ended,  the  gin  was  born,  soon  to  be  a  working  suc- 
cess; soon  to  make  an  industry;  soon  to  build  an 
aristocracy;  soon  to  make  the  fortunes  of  men  and 
nations. 

One  of  the  first  inventors  who  contributed  to  the 
success  and  perfecting  of  the  gin  was  Hodgin 
Holmes  of  Georgia.  As  early  as  1796  he  secured 
a  patent  on  his  gin  which  represented  some  use- 
ful features  not  possessed  by  the  Whitney  patent. 

THF.    MAGNITUDE    OF   THE    INVENTION 

The  cotton  gin  is  an  example,  perhaps  the  most 
remarkable  on  record,  of  the  power  of  a  single 
labor-saving  machine  to  influence  the  social  and 
industrial  interests,  not  merely  of  a  nation,  but  in 
a  great  measure  of  the  civilized  world.  "What 
Peter  the  Great  did  to  make  Russia  dominant," 
says  Maoaulay,   "Eli  Whitney's  invention  of  the 


218  COTTON 

cotton  gin  has  more  than  equalled  in  its  relation 
to  the  power  and  progress  of  the  United  States." 

In  reference  to  this  invention  and  its  effect  on 
cotton  manufacturing  an  early  writer  has  this  to 
say: 

*'Its  introduction  at  the  particular  period  when 
the  completion  of  the  brilliant  series  of  inventions 
for  carding,  spinning  and  weaving  cotton  had  cre- 
ated a  demand  for  the  raw  material,  at  once  directed 
into  a  new  and  profitable  channel  the  agriculture 
of  the  South,  and  at  the  same  time  furnished  the 
manufacturing  industry  of  Europe  and  America 
with  one  of  the  most  valuable  staples,  and  the  ship- 
ping and  commercial  interests  of  the  world  with  an 
enormous  trade  in  its  raw  and  manufactured  pro- 
ducts. The  increase  in  growth  and  exportation  of 
new  cotton  which  followed  has  no  parallel  in  the 
annals  of  industry,  save  in  the  wonderful  develop- 
ment of  its  manufacture  in  Europe  and  America." 

The  effects  in  all  their  magnitude  of  the  growth 
of  cotton  culture  and  manufacture  in  increasing 
material  wealth,  in  furnishing  employment  to  labor 
and  capital,  and  in  increasing  the  comfort  of  all 
classes,  can  hardly  be  conceived. 

THE    EARLY    GIN 

The  gin  in  its  early  days  consisted  of  a  series  of 
fine  tooth  circular  saws  fastened  upon  a  wooden 
cylinder  about  three-fourths  of  an  inch  apart, 
and  revolving  in  slits  cut  in  a  steel  plate,  less  than  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  wide.  A  mass  of  cotton  in  the 
seed  is  laid  on  this  plate.  As  the  saws  revolve 
the  teeth  passing  down  between  the  openings,  pull 
off  the  lint  from  the  seed  and  carry  it  through  with 
them,  the  openings  being  narrow  enough  to  pre- 


COTTON  219 

vent  the  seed  from  passing  through  with  the  lint. 
On  the  lower  side  of  the  cylinder  set  with  saws  is 
a  revolving  brush  which  takes  off  the  lint  as  it  comes 
through  the  saw  teeth,  and  a  blast  from  a  revolving 
fan  carries  it  back  through  a  flue  into  a  lint  room 
in  the  rear  of  the  machine.  This  is  the  essential 
principle  of  the  Whitney  gin  as  well  as  of  all  suc- 
ceeding ones  that  have  yet  been  made. 

PRESENT    DAY    GINNING 

There  are  two  kinds  of  gins  used  at  the  present 
time :  roller  and  saw.  The  former,  old  long  before 
Whitney's  saw  gin  was  invented,  is  used  for  ginning 
Sea  Island  cotton,  while  the  saw  gin  is  always  used 
for  the  upland  varieties.  Seed  of  Sea  Island  cot- 
ton, it  must  be  remembered,  are  loose  in  the  lint, 
smooth  and  clean, — as  contrasted  with  upland 
seed  to  which  the  lint  is  as  firmly  attached  as 
barnacles  to  a  log.  Hence  the  need  of  two  forms 
of  ginning. 

The  cotton  gin  is  by  no  means  perfect  yet:  it 
leaves  too  much  dirt  and  trash  in  the  lint  during 
the  process  of  separation  from  the  seed.  Whether 
perfection  in  this  direction  is  at  all  possible,  the 
future  only  can  say;  but  at  present  the  waste  in 
form  of  dirt,  weak  fibers,  seed  and  leaf  is  a  mat- 
ter of  considerable  consequence.  The  gins  now 
used  also  cut  the  lint  badly,  thereby  seriously  dam- 
aging it  for  manufacturing  purposes.  With  the 
coming  of  improvements,  cotton  ginning  has  be- 
come an  industry,  almost  separate  and  distinct 
in  itself. 

Not  many  years  ago  nearly  every  plantation  had 
its  own  gin :  but  there  were  many  items  of  expense 
which  made  the  small  gin  too  expensive.     It  was 


220  COTTON 

operated  but  a  small  part,  not  only  of  each  year, 
as  must  be  true  of  all  gins,  but  only  a  small  part  of 
the  ginning  season;  parts  got  out  of  repair,  and  in- 
terest on  the  investment  amounted  to  much  when 
the  small  returns  from  ginning  the  crop  of  a  single 
plantation  were  considered. 

Once  it  was  thought  that  portable  ginning  out- 
fits, like  portable  threshing  outfits,  would  be  practic- 
able, but  too  much  power  was  needed;  there  was  too 
much  expense  connected  with  the  transportation, 
especially  where  but  few  bales  were  ready  to  be 
ginned;  too  great  difficulty  in  the  way  of  securing 
fuel  and  water,  and  too  many  interruptions  due 
to  bad  weather  and  poor  roads. 

THE    STATIONARY    GIN 

The  small  farm  gin  was  costly,  the  portable  gin 
impracticable;  and  so  the  larger  stationary  gin 
came  as  a  necessity  as  well  as  the  solution  of  a 
vexing  problem. 

The  numerous  inventions  incident  to  the  com- 
pletion of  the  ginning  idea,  the  labor-saving  devices 
in  many  directions,  the  rapidity  of  ginning  and 
baling  by  the  gins  of  greater  capacity,  have  estab- 
lished the  large  stationary  gin  as  a  prominent  part 
of  the  equipment  of  the  cotton  industry. 

The  farmer  may  now  haul  his  seed  cotton  to  the 
gin  in  an  open  wagon  box,  the  suction  tubes  will 
suck  the  cotton  up,  the  carrying  belts  will  carry  it 
to  the  saws,  and  the  lint  will  go  at  once  to  the  com- 
press, giving  the  owner  his  cotton  back  in  baled 
form  in  a  few  minutes  after  the  wagon  is  emptied. 

The  old  hand  method  made  but  a  pound  of  lint 
daily:  the  hand  gin  increased  the  working  efficiency 
to  half  a  modern  bale  per  man;  the  old  plantation 


COTTON  221 

power  gin  further  increased  the  quantity  to  several 
bales;  and  now  the  consolidated  high  power  ma- 
chine is  common  where  50  to  75  bales,  and  in  some 
cases  even  as  much  as  250  bales,  are  daily  ginned 
and  baled. 

This  is  indeed  wonderful  evolution. 

THE    SUCTION    ELEVATOR 

The  suction  elevator  has  done  much  in  increas- 
ing the  daily  capacity  of  gins.  Think  of  the  labor 
required  for  carrying  from  the  wagon  by  hand  all 
the  seed  cotton  produced  any  season — and  now  a 
simple  device  does  it  all,  effectively,  quickly,  eco- 
nomically. 

"What  is  the  extent  of  this  saving.?"  we  once 
asked  an  expert. 

*'To  this  extent,"  he  replied,  "three  hands  to  a 
gin  of  say  60  saws,  making  four  hundred  revolu- 
tions per  minute — the  speed  producing  the  best 
staple — would  turn  out  six  bales  in  a  day  of  10 
hours.  With  the  suction  elevators,  the  same  num- 
ber of  hands  with  much  less  labor,  can  attend  to 
four  or  five  gins  and  turn  out  24  to  30  bales  in  the 
same  time." 

THE    ITEM    OF    SPEED 

Cotton  comes  from  the  gin  in  the  best  condition 
if  speed  is  kept  within  moderate  limits.  The  ten- 
dency to  run  the  gin  at  high  speed  increases  the 
output  but  lessens  the  value  of  the  lint.  Here, 
then  the  interests  of  the  farmer  and  ginner  are  at 
variance — unless  the  farmer  is  willing  to  recognize 
the  value  of  cotton  ginned  at  low  speed  by  paying 
more  for  such  service. 

High  speed  strains  and  even  breaks  fibers,  and 


222  COTTON 

allows  waste  matter  to  become  mixed  with  the  lint. 
The  old  gin,  when  run  by  horse  power,  was  not 
open  to  this  objection  urged  against  high  steam 
power.  Then  you  never  heard  of  cut  or  broken 
fibers  or  of  crimped  or  knotted  lint  such  as  is  now 
caused  by  the  impact  of  the  saws  when  the  cylinders 
rotate  at  a  high  speed. 

About  four  hundred  revolutions  per  minute  is 
considered  a  reasonable  speed,  and  this  leaves 
the  lint  product  in  fairly  good  physical  condition. 

THE    BALING    PROCESS 

While  the  baling  process  has  no  direct  connec- 
tion with  ginning,  it  is  now  a  part  of  the  gin  equip- 
ment, and  so  may  be  considered  as  belonging  to 
this  operation  preparatory  to  marketing. 

Like  the  gin,  the  baling  press  has  been  materi- 
ally improved  in  rapidity  and  in  efficiency.  The 
large  compresses  put  a  large  quantity  of  fiber  into 
a  small  bulk,  thus  promoting  ease  of  transportation. 

Freight  rates,  you  know,  are  regulated  by  bulk 
as  well  as  by  weight.  Hence,  this  leads  naturally 
to  the  demand  for  a  bale  carrying  as  large  a  quan- 
tity of  lint  as  possible  in  a  given  amount  of  space. 
The  following  data  showing  the  average  weights 
of  bales  for  100  years  illustrate  this: 

In  1800  average  bale,  weight  225  pounds;  1810, 
250  pounds;  1820,  264  pounds;  1833,  339  pounds; 
1839,  385  pounds;  1849,  400  pounds;  1859,  445 
pounds;  1869,  440  pounds;  1879, 453 pounds;  1889, 
477  pounds;  1899,  499  pounds. 

Cotton  brokers  and  shippers  naturally  prefer 
a  bale  of  great  density,  and  of  such  shape  as  will 
pack  easily  in  cars  and  steamboats. 

As  a  rule,  the  American  bale  is  not  prepared 


COTTON  223 

with  such  care  as  its  importance  demands.  It  now 
comes  in  all  sizes,  varies  greatly  as  to  weight,  may 
or  may  not  have  been  damaged  by  rain  and  ex- 
posure. Then,  too,  it  is  poorly  covered.  Often 
the  covering  is  torn,  allowing  the  lint  to  drop  out, 
subjecting  the  American  bale  to  the  charge  that  it 
is  "  the  clumsiest,  dirtiest,  most  expensive  and  most 
wasteful  package  in  which  cotton,  or  in  fact  any 
commodity  of  like  value,  is  anywhere  put  up." 

What  do  you  do  with  your  cotton  when  it  comes 
back  from  the  gin.?  Your  neighbors  put  theirs 
under  the  apple  tree  or  in  the  barn  lot,  or  in  some 
open  exposed  place,  where  rain  and  dust  attack 
and  damage  it ;  even  pigs  are  allowed  access  to  cot- 
ton bales  as  places  to  clean  their  muddy  backs. 

This  constant  loss  is  of  course  the  farmer's, 
and  no  one  else's.  Even  the  waste  due  to  bagging 
and  ties  is  the  farmer's  loss,  although  he  seldom 
realizes  it.  The  usual  tare  percentage  is  placed 
at  six,  which  means  a  reduction  of  24  pounds  for  a 
400  pound  bale,  and  30  pounds  for  a  500  pound 
bale.  While  this  feature  of  tare  is  but  slightly 
discussed  or  considered  in  this  country,  it  always 
calls  for  a  deduction  in  the  great  manufacturing 
centers  abroad  and  so  has  its  effect  on  cotton  prices. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

marketing:  the  trip  to  the  spindle 

Having  come  this  far  in  all  seriousness  of  spirit 
may  we  not  turn  now  to  something  a  little  lighter^ 
perhaps  even  to  a  nonsense  verse?  If  so, — well, 
you  remember  the  old  nursery  rhyme,  that  runs : 

"Jack  and  Jill  went  up  the  hill. 
To  get  a  pail  of  water; 
Jack  fell  down  and  broke  his  crown. 
And  Jill  came  tumbling  after." 

In  a  large  sense  this  expresses  the  situation  that 
confronts  the  cotton  farmer  in  handling  his  crop. 
You  and  I  and  every  man  who  produces  cotton 
must  first  go  up  the  hill.  Like  Jack  and  Jill  we 
go  there  for  a  purpose;  ours  is  to  produce  a  crop 
that  shall,  we  hope,  enable  us  to  keep  our  farms  in 
a  good  producing  condition ;  our  houses  and  barns 
in  repair;  our  reading  tables  reasonably  furnished 
with  papers,  magazines  and  books ;  our  family  with 
food  and  raiment;  our  children  with  the  advantages 
of  education  for  culture  and  professional  efficiency. 
We  have  a  right  to  expect  these  rewards.  Jack 
and  Jill  no  doubt  knew  that  water  was  there;  we 
at  least  know  that  the  kind  we  want  is  there.  But 
it  is  hard  to  get  it.  The  road  that  leads  to  the  top 
of  the  hill  is  a  difficult  one.  That  this  was  so  with 
the  one  that  Jack  and  Jill  went  up,  is  evidenced  by 
the  fact  that  "  Jack  fell  down  and  broke  his  crown." 
It  was  a  steep,  rocky  road,  no  doubt;  rough  and  dif- 

(224) 


COTTON  225 

ficult  of  access.  And  isn't  the  road  of  the  cotton 
farmer  steep  and  rough  and  difficult  ?  And  so 
long,  too.  Six  months  and  more  are  necessary  to 
cover  the  distance;  a  thousand  difficulties  are  met 
on  the  way ;  late  frosts  in  the  spring,  and  early  ones  in 
the  fall  before  the  crop  matures ;  often  unduly  wet 
weather  or  unduly  dry  weather  materially  lessen  the 
crop ;  insufficient  and  inefficient  labor  bother  and 
interfere ;  expenses  for  labor,  seed, fertilizers,  imple- 
ments, and  tools,  often  come  at  the  sacrifice  of  the 
legitimate  comforts  and  needs  of  the  family :  surely 
the  road  is  beset  with  difficulty  and  danger  all  the 
way  we  must  follow  in  reaching  the  top. 

For  Jack  and  Jill  the  top  possessed  water;  for 
the  cotton  farmer  the  top — the  end  of  his  journey — 
is  the  market.  He  is  entitled,  at  least,  to  water 
while  on  the  top,  enough  to  take  him  down  the  hill 
again,  a  sufficient  quantity  for  those  dependent 
upon  him  at  home,  and  in  quantities  sufficient  to 
supply  not  only  real  needs,  but  all  purposes  of  com- 
fort and  even  those  of  luxury;  besides  this,  he  is 
entitled  to  enough  to  last  him  on  his  trip  up  the 
hill  again,  and  to  supply  his  family  until  he  returns 
with  a  fresh  supply. 

Are  you  going  to  reject  this  philosophy  ? 

Is  it  not  the  kind  practiced  and  preached  by  every 
other  industry — the  railroad,  the  cotton  factory, 
the  coal,  iron,  and  steel  industries,  by  every  manu- 
facturing and  industrial  concern.? 

Are  not  its  precepts  illustrated  in  the  tenets  of 
every  professional  creed — the  merchant's,  the  doc- 
tor's, the  banker's,  or  the  publisher's  ? 

All  accept  this  doctrine  save  the  farmer — and 
what  is  more,  they  practice  it. 

Take  the  railroad.  Its  preachments  are  all  to 
the  effect  that  its  capital  is  entitled  to  a  reasonable 


226  COTTON 

annual  reward.  In  practice  it  goes  further  and  not 
only  grants  this  on  its  real  investment,  but  includes 
dividends  on  a  fictitious,  watered  capital  as  well. 

Take  the  trust.  It  secures  not  only  its  legitimate 
share  of  the  water  at  the  top  of  the  hill,  but  through 
all  sorts  of  schemes  and  tricks  secures  a  great  deal 
more. 

Take  the  man  in  exchange  or  in  business.  He 
meets  with  his  fellow  workers;  he  organizes  and 
plans  that  competition  may  be  met;  that  he  may 
thus  secure  his  share  of  water,  and  further  that  his 
share  shall  be  protected  for  all  future  years. 

Then  take  the  farmer — the  cotton  farmer.  He 
meets  not  with  his  fellows;  he  organizes  not;  he 
goes  to  the  top  of  the  hill  alone ;  his  part  of  the  road 
is  roughest  of  all;  and  when  he  gets  there  he  is 
alone;  it  is  dark  and  only  with  difficulty  does  he  find 
water.  At  other  times  so  many  others  are  at  the 
source  of  supply,  and  so  well  organized,  that  they 
crowd  him  back  and  away. 

So  he  takes  what  is  offered  and  returns  on  his 
homeward  journey. 

Going  still  further  with  our  nonsense  verse,  we 
also  discover  that  "Jack  fell  down  and  broke  his 
crown,  and  Jill — she  tumbled  after." 

And  here  is  the  danger  place  in  cotton  produc- 
tion: the  crop  is  produced,  too  much  goes  on  the 
market  all  at  once,  or  the  market  is  manipulated, 
and  over  it  goes.  Jack  fell  and  broke  his  crown. 
How  many  cotton  farmers,  think  you,  are  ruined, 
because  the  cost  of  production — the  trip  up  the 
hill — is  more  than  the  market  place  gives  them  ? 

But  there  is  more  to  our  story  yet:  When  Jack 
fell  down,  "Jill  came  tumbling  after."  When 
cotton  goes  down,  not  only  that  man  whose  crop 
costs  more  than  he  secured  for  it  is  injured,  but 


COTTON  22T 

his  neighbor  who  made  a  little  on  his  crop,  his 
banker,  his  merchant,  his  friends  in  other  lines  of 
work,  are  injured  as  well.  But  the  result  is  even 
more  far-reaching;  the  manufacturers  who  make 
the  cotton  farmer's  clothing,  his  tools  and  imple- 
ments, who  supply  him  with  all  the  necessities, 
suffer  as  well.  The  farmer  falls  down,  and  the 
rest  come  tumbling  after. 

HELP    IN    THE    DIRECTION    OF    ORGANIZATION 

It  is  not  wrong  to  organize.  The  principle  is 
commercially  and  morally  correct.  Organization 
is  helpfulness.  Cotton  farmers  need  the  spirit  of 
helpfulness.  They  will  profit  by  it  as  much  as  any 
class,  for  it  will  bring  a  new  meaning  to  cotton  pro- 
duction; it  will  secure,  as  it  is  doing  now,  reasonable 
rewards  for  the  effort  expended ;  a  fuller  and  better 
life  will  follow  for  the  home  on  the  cotton  farm. 

Organization  may  direct  itself  along  many  lines ; 
it  will  look  to  the  stability  of  the  home  market;  it 
will  seek  for  new  markets;  it  will  regulate  supply 
in  accordance  with  legitimate  demands;  it  will 
seek  to  lower  the  cost  of  production  so  as  to  increase 
the  margin  of  profit.  All  these  things  come  with 
rightly  managed  organization. 

HOW  THE  FARMER  MARKETS  HIS  CROP 

Cotton  is  sold  both  in  the  bale  and  as  seed  cotton, 
although  the  first  named  method  is  the  rule.  It  is 
the  most  desirable  and  satisfactory  plan,  since  it 
necessarily  leaves  the  seed  with  the  farmer  to  whose 
soil  it  rightly  belongs.  While  it  is  true  that  if  cot- 
ton lint  sells  for  ten  cents  per  pound,  it  is  easy  to 
calculate  its  worth  in  seed  cotton,  still  this  can  be 


228  COTTON 

done  only  with  reasonable  accuracy,  subjecting 
the  method  to  some  degree  of  criticism.  Since  the 
gin  and  the  press  are  so  available  now,  there  is  no 
reason  why  every  farmer  should  not  sell  his  lint 
in  the  bale  rather  than  in  any  other  form. 

BORROWING  ON  THE  CROP  IS  BAD  BUSINESS 

An  interesting  economic  development  has  come 
with  the  rise  of  the  cotton  industry.  It  concerns 
itself  with  cotton  factors  who  advance  money  to  the 
needy  cotton  grower,  taking  as  security  a  lien  on 
his  crop.  The  usual  advance  is  ten  dollars  or  more 
on  the  bale,  given  at  the  highest  legal  rate  of  inter- 
est. Without  this  help  of  the  cotton  factor,  many 
people  would  be  unable  to  purchase  seed,  fertilizer, 
feed,  teams  and  stock,  and  so  produce  a  crop.  By 
borrowing  on  the  crop  they  are  able  to  tide  over  the 
space  of  time  intervening  until  marketing  of  the 
crop  arrives.  Of  course,  this  is  bad  business; 
while  it  is  profitable  for  the  cotton  factor,  it  is  ruin- 
ous for  the  grower,  and  consequently  injurious  to 
the  community.  When  the  crop  is  harvested  it  may 
be  sold  at  once,  the  factor  paid,  and  the  balance 
credited  in  the  bank  to  the  cotton  grower. 

This  balance,  during  the  good  year,  may  be  suffi- 
cient to  start  the  tenant  or  other  grower  the  next 
spring,  and  even  carry  him  to  the  close  of  a  second 
crop;  or  it  maybe  so  small,  that  he  will  with  difficulty 
be  able  to  live  through  the  winter,  and  begin  a  new 
crop.  Often  it  is  necessary  for  tenant,  or  the  other- 
wise poor  farmer,  to  begin  borrowing  early  in  the 
year  to  meet  bare  necessities.  When  good  seasons 
come,  this  crop  lien  business  is  of  smaller  propor- 
tions, but  with  poor  seasons  such  advances  are 
great  and  consequently  burdensome  to  the  grower. 


WAITING  TURNS  AT  THE  GIN. 

In  the  busy  season,  October  and  November — cotton  goes  to  the  gin  more  rapid- 
ly than  it  can  be  handled.  The  seed  cotton  is  then  stored  temporarily  in  bins  made 
for  that  purpose. 


A  LOOK  OX  rilK  INSIDE. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  average  farmer  'takes  as  little  care  of  a  cotton  bale 
as  if  it  were  a  grindstone."     Now,  however,  storage  warehouses  are  becoming  popu- 
lar.    In  the  second  view  we  have  the  interior  of  a  gin. 


COTTON  229 

With  good  prices  the  custom  is  now  fast  passing 
away. 

STORING    COTTON 

At  harvest  time  not  all  cotton  is  sold  at  once; 
some  is  hauled  back  to  the  farm  or  stored  in  the 
warehouse,  and  held  for  the  expectant  advance  in 
price.  The  farmer  who  has  borrowed  on  his  crop 
usually  stores  in  the  warehouse  that  the  cotton  fac- 
tor may  have  an  eye  on  the  bale.  The  storage 
cost  varies  from  ten  to  fifty  cents  per  bale,  depend- 
ing on  the  length  of  time  it  is  kept  in  storage.  In- 
surance must  be  considered  as  well,  for  much  loss 
follows  as  a  result  of  fire.  The  total  cost  for  selling, 
storage,  and  insurance  varies  from  $1.00  to  $2.00 
for  each  and  every  bale. 

Where  cotton  is  taken  back  to  the  farm,  there 
are,  of  course,  no  storage  charges,  and  insurance  is 
usually  at  the  owner's  risk.  While  many  farmers 
do  store  their  cotton  in  places  of  shelter,  the  major- 
ity do  not,  but  simply  pile  it  out  in  the  open  or  under 
the  home-yard  tree. 

Remember  that  cotton,  although  not  a  perishable 
product,  is  susceptible  to  deteriorating  influences 
of  weather  and  the  elements,  just  as  other  field 
crops  are,  even  if  in  a  less  degree;  and  when  long  ex- 
posed to  weather,  the  quality  suffers  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  make  a  material  difference  in  price. 
This  loss,  when  measured  for  the  entire  cotton 
crop,  assumes  enormous  porportions. 

This,  too,  is  one  of  the  most  unnecessary  and 
inexcusable  leaks  on  our  cotton  farms.  If  you 
protect  your  cotton  thoroughly  from  the  time  it  is 
delivered  at  home  in  the  bale  to  the  delivery  time 
on  the  market,  you  will  save  enough  to  cover  all 


230  COTTON 

rental   and   investment   charges,   and   so   make   a 
warehouseman's  profit  for  yourself. 

IN    THE    MARKET    PLACE 

Cotton  is  often  sold  at  the  warehouse  or  elsewhere 
through  an  agent,  whose  charge  is  on  the  average 
of  one  dollar  per  bale.  As  a  rule,  the  farmer  makes 
his  own  sale,  one  or  more  buyers  bidding  for  his 
product. 

With  the  coming  of  cotton  factories  throughout 
the  cotton-producing  States,  a  market  is  provided 
at  first-hand,  enabling  the  producer  to  sell  direct 
to  the  mills.  Wherever  this  opportunity  exists,  it 
gives  satisfactory  results  to  both  parties.  The 
farmer  profits,  since  the  factory  saves  agents' 
charges  for  buying,  drayage  and  freight,  and  this 
ends  wholly  to  the  advantage  of  the  farmer  or  to 
the  mutual  advantage  of  both. 

But  since  the  greater  part  of  the  cotton  crop  goes 
North  or  abroad,  some  intermediary  factors  must 
exist  in  order  to  handle  this  enormous  business. 
Usually  this  is  done  by  exporting  companies,  which 
are  financed  by  heavy  capital,  and  whose  sole  busi- 
ness is  to  move  the  cotton  from  producer  to 
consumer. 

MARKET  GRADES  OF  COTTON 

Cotton  as  sold  on  the  market  is  first  classified 
into  several  different  grades,  and  like  all  the  prod- 
ucts of  commerce,  its  value  is  measured  by  intrin- 
sic worth,  merit  and  quality.  Nor  does  it  follow 
that  because  cotton  has  a  market  classification 
which  includes  all  cotton  grown,  that  the  seller  re- 
ceives its  true  market  value.     While  there  is  such 


COTTON  AFTER  BALING. 

Much  cotton  is  left  on  the  platform  in  the  open — or  worse,  flat  on  the  ground ; 
in  the  second  view  a  farmer's  crop  is  being  put  into  a  warehouse. 


"HOW  MUCH  1)1)  1  c.n  al  i  ii  i\   -aim-  a  hunded  ?" 

Her  task  finished  the  picker  is  waiting  to  have  her  basket  weighed.  Then  she 
will  know  how  much  she  has  earned  by  the  day's  labor — at  50  cents  a  hundred 
pounds. 


COTTON  231 

a  classification  for  every  sort  of  American  cotton, 
the  buyer  endeavors  to  get  the  product  as  cheaply 
as  possible,  and  the  producer  tries  to  get  as  much 
for  his  lint  as  possible.  Ordinarily  the  judgment 
rests  solely  with  the  buyer.  He  classes  fiber  as  he 
thinks  it  should  be  classed,  or  as  he  chooses  to  class 
it,  and  offers  a  market  price  for  that  grade  of  cotton. 
You  can  readily  see  that  where  only  a  single  buyer 
is  present,  and  especially  if  that  one  be  unscrupu- 
lous to  some  degree,  considerable  loss  may  come 
to  the  producer  and  a  corresponding  gain  to  the 
buyer.  Naturally  there  are  tricks  in  buying  cotton 
as  there  are  tricks  in  other  trades,  and  honesty  and 
business  integrity  find  recognition  in  the  cotton 
market  as  they  do  elsewhere  in  life. 

The  most  satisfactory  selling  is  done  where  sev- 
eral buyers  are  on  hand,  and  this  competition  as  a 
rule  means  that  the  highest  prices  will  be  offered. 
Of  course  even  in  this  case  buyers  may  join  hands 
and  one  do  most  of  the  buying  one  day,  another  a 
second  day,  and  so  on,  each  taking  his  turn  and 
getting  his  cotton  at  the  lowest  price.  But  the 
daily  paper  now  gives  the  farmer  the  prices  in  the 
leading  markets  of  the  world,  and  with  the  railways 
making  transportation  to  better  markets  easy,  he 
usually  secures  what  his  product  is  worth,  or  at 
least  the  market  value  of  the  grade  in  which  it  is 
classed. 

The  variety  of  cotton  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
market  classification.  One  variety  may  be  classed 
*'  good  middling,"  for  instance,  another  variety  "  low 
middling,"  in  the  market  scale,  because  of  its  in- 
dividual superiority  or  inferiority  as  the  case  may 
be. 

This  classification  is  fixed  by  market  conditions 
as  follows: 


232  COTTON 

FAIR  MIDDLING 

Barely   Fair  Barely  Middling 

Strict  Middling  Fair        Strict  Low  Middling 
Fully  Middling  Fair        Fully  Low  Middling 

MIDDLING  FAIR  LOW   MIDDLING 

Barely  Middling  Fair  Barely  Low  Middling 
Strict  Good  Middling  Strict  Good  Ordinary 
Fully  Good  Middling       Fully  Good  Ordinary 

GOOD    MIDDLING  GOOD    ORDINARY 

Barely  Good  Middling     Barely  Good  Ordinary 
Strict  Middling  Strict  Ordinary 

Fully  Middling  ordinary 

Low  Ordinary 

Inferior. 

It  will  be  seen  that  grades  are  known  as  full 
grades,  half  grades,  and  quarter  grades,  although 
the  quarter  grades  are  used  very  seldom  in  classify- 
ing the  fiber.  In  the  classification  as  given  here 
the  grades  in  capital  letters  are  the  full  grades,  the 
half  grades  being  indicated  by  the  prefix  "strict," 
and  quarter  grades  by  the  prefixes  "barely"  and 
"fully." 

"Middling"  grade  is  the  one  universally  used 
in  all  cotton  deals.  When  a  price  is  made,  it  is 
given  on  the  basis  of  middling  grade.  All  cotton 
contracts  or  "futures"  call  for  middling,  and  it 
becomes  the  standard  in  exchange.  This  does  not 
signify,  however,  that  contracts  may  not  be  filled 
with  other  grades,  but  in  case  a  superior  or  inferior 
grade  is  furnished,  the  prices  become  proportion- 
ately higher  or  lower,  as  the  case  may  be. 

The  buyer's  judgment  must  be  good,  else  his 
classification  may  be  incorrect,  and  consequently 
may  lead  to  loss. 


COTTON  233 

It  is  of  importance  to  the  farmer  that  he  be  ac- 
quainted with  the  market  grades  of  cotton,  just  as 
the  shoe  dealer  must  be  acquainted  with  the  several 
grades  of  shoes  he  sells,  or  the  merchant  acquainted 
with  the  several  grades  of  cloth  that  he  markets 
over  the  counter. 

The  market  end  of  cotton  production  is  an  im- 
portant one;  and  to  see  that  it  should  receive  more 
attention  than  it  has,  we  have  only  to  consider  that 
most  cotton  is  hauled  to  market,  submitted  to  the 
buyer,  and  his  offer  accepted  without  being  further 
substantiated,  either  by  the  seller's  judgment  or  by 
that  of  any  one  else. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE    UNCEASING    CONTEST     BETWEEN     BULLS    AND 
BEARS 

Long  years  ago,  before  the  coming  of  the  tele- 
graph and  the  cable,  and  when  the  greater  part  of 
the  cotton  crop  was  produced  in  America  and  sold 
abroad,  it  was  the  custom  of  European  spin- 
ners, either  to  send  their  agents  to  this  country,  or 
to  depend  upon  those  already  here,  to  buy  and  ship 
cotton  for  their  use.  As  trade  increased  in  volume, 
and  competition  increased  in  intensity,  however, 
better  methods  were  required — methods  that 
should  be  more  certain  and  more  constant  in  their 
results.  Hence,  these  old  ways  of  doing  this  were 
not  in  keeping  with  the  progress  and  advancement 
of  other  lines  of  industry.  The  old  methods  no 
longer  worked  with  satisfaction,  and  so  gradually 
became  obsolete  in  practice. 

With  the  increase  in  the  business  of  selling  and 
exporting  cotton  by  reason  of  the  large  proportions 
which  the  foreign  trade  attained,  a  class  of  wealthy 
merchants  entered  the  field  and  began  purchasing 
cotton  whenever  they  thought  prices  safe,  contin- 
uing their  operations  from  the  beginning  of  the 
picking  season  until  after  its  close.  This  purchased 
cotton  they  held  with  the  expectation  of  consider- 
able reward  for  their  labors  and  for  the  necessary 
risks  incidental  to  the  transaction. 

(234) 


COTTON  235 

While  this  was  a  legitimate  enterprise,  it  was 
nevertheless  largely  speculation,  each  merchant 
gaining  or  losing  in  proportion  as  his  judgment  was 
good  or  bad. 

LEGITIMATE    AND    ILLEGITIMATE    SPECULATION 

This  sort  of  speculation  all  of  us  are  given  to: 
the  merchant  who  purchases  early  in  the  season 
because  he  anticipates  higher  prices  later;  the  far- 
mer who  secures  feeding  stock  in  the  belief  that 
prices  will  advance,  netting  him  a  profit  greater 
than  the  mere  value  of  the  finished  animal  at  the 
time  of  purchase;  the  housekeeper  who  purchases 
coal  in  summer,  believing  that  with  the  coming  of 
winter  prices  to  the  consumer  will  advance;  the 
consumer  of  any  commodity  who  looks  ahead  and 
anticipates  a  higher  price  than  that  commodity 
is  then  commanding — each  is  engaging  in  specu- 
lation, pure  and  simple,  but  nevertheless  doing  a 
legitimate  thing,  dictated  by  wisdom  and  foresight. 

Let  this  idea  of  speculation  be  distinguished  from 
the  professional  speculative  phase  which  approach- 
es or  is  in  every  sense  a  '  gamble."  When  you 
make  a  purchase  of  real  estate  you  may  do  so  be- 
cause of  immediate  needs:  or  you  may  make  the 
purchase  in  expectation  of  a  rise  in  value :  you  have 
need  for  it  now  or  anticipate  a  demand  for  this 
holding  in  the  future.  It  is  now  worth  something 
to  you — you  anticipate  that  it  will  be  worth  more 
at  a  future  time;  hence  you  make  your  purchase. 
If  your  judgment  is  good,  if  it  is  accurate,  you  profit 
on  your  risk;  if  otherwise,  you  may  lose.  This 
trade — this  phase  of  business  or  commerce — is 
entirely  consistent  with  morals,  with  commercial 
standing,  with  business  principles. 


236  COTTON 

Furthermore  you  apply  this  principle  in  the 
purchase  of  all  your  supplies — all  needs ;  you  secure 
your  luxuries  as  well  as  your  necessities  when  you 
think  the  time  and  the  place  are  best. 

THE    manufacturer's    POLICY 

The  manufacturer  does  likewise.  He  goes  to 
the  market  for  his  supplies  at  the  time  when  he 
considers  the  market  at  its  lowest  point.  In  this 
the  cotton  spinner  is  not  different  from  other  men; 
if  the  market  points  to  an  advance  in  price,  he  will 
make  his  purchase  now.  But  he  runs  a  risk;  his 
needs  are  many,  his  supplies  costly,  and  prices  may 
not  advance;  they  may  even  decline.  When  this 
turn  is  taken,  loss  naturally  follows  and  often  to 
such  an  extent  that  all  profits  are  absorbed  in  the 
loss.  To  reduce  these  risks  to  a  minimum,  and 
also  to  arrange  so  that  but  a  margin  of  the  value 
would  be  required  for  protection,  contracts  were 
early  arranged  which  allowed  a  spinner  to  buy  his 
cotton  on  the  basis  of  future  delivery.  This  device 
of  trading  in  contracts  for  the  future  delivery  of 
cotton  was  quickly  adopted  by  the  trade,  especially 
by  those  concerned  either  with  the  movement  or 
consumption  of  cotton.  An  exceedingly  gratify- 
ing advantage  to  the  spinner  was  this,  for  now  he , 
might  estimate  the  quantity  of  cotton  needed  at  a 
certain  time,  make  his  purchase  on  the  basis  of  a 
future  delivery,  and  in  the  meantime  continue  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  his  products.  Knowing 
the  amount  of  the  manufacturing  expenses,  and 
now  just  what  his  cotton  in  the  raw  would  cost  four, 
six,  eight  or  ten  months  in  advance,  he  could  estab- 
lish his  selling  price,  make  his  purchases  and  his 
sales,  and  all  the  while  be  relieved  of  worry  over 


COTTON  237 

troubles  incident  to  movement,  storage,  insurance, 
and  other  risks. 

So  far  then  we  have  found  no  objection.  Spec- 
ulation you  may  call  it,  but  legitimate;  since  a 
commodity  has  been  purchased  for  real  actual  con- 
sumption. But  at  this  point  a  new  actor  struts 
upon  the  stage — one  not  concerned  with  the  pro- 
duction, consumption,  or  movement  of  cotton;  it 
is  the  professional  speculator  who  sees  an  oppor- 
tunity to  take  advantage  of  a  peculiar  condition  of 
trade,  and  who,  if  he  is  careful  and  wise,  is  certain 
to  profit  by  his  anticipation  of  the  way  in  which  the 
law  of  supply  and  demand  will  likely  operate;  he 
will  meet  this  condition  by  ascertaining  in  advance 
in  every  way  possible,  the  probable  direction  this 
fundamental  law  will  take. 

THE  COMING  OF  THE  COTTON  EXCHANGE 

So  great  was  this  new  feature  in  the  movement 
of  cotton  from  producer  to  consumer  that  it  became 
necessary  to  bring  form  out  of  chaos:  it  must  be 
organized,  else  it  might  break  itself  into  pieces. 
And  there  was  too  much  good,  too  much  intrinsic 
worth  in  it,  for  this  to  happen. 

Consequently  in  the  early  70's  Cotton  Exchanges 
were  formed  in  New  York,  New  Orleans,  Liver- 
pool, operated  under  rules  and  regulations  intended 
to  protect  their  own  members  and  facilitate  the 
trade  of  buying  and  selling  cotton.  The  central 
idea  in  these  exchanges  was  to  provide  machinery 
that  might  facilitate  the  dealings  in  "options"  or 
"futures"  as  they  have  always  been  called. 

And  what  do  these  terms  mean.?  We  will  ask 
a  member.  He  says:  "They  are  called  options 
because  the  cotton  contracted  for  is  deliverable  at 


238  COTTON 

the  option  of  the  seller  at  any  time  during  the  month 
for  which  it  is  sold,  and  they  are  called  futures, 
because,  as  a  rule,  the  contracts  traded  in  are  those 
which  call  for  a  delivery  of  the  cotton  at  some  fu- 
ture period." 

COTTON    CONTRACTS 

The  contract  of  the  Cotton  Exchange  is  in  essen- 
tials a  legal  sale  and  purchase  of  cotton  like  other 
contracts,  written  or  verbal,  which  call  for  a  change 
in  the  ownership  of  any  commodity.  The  cotton 
contract  stipulates  in  writing  that  50,000  pounds 
in  about  one  hundred  square  bales  are  sold  or 
bought,  as  the  case  may  be,  at  a  stated  price,  pay- 
ment to  be  made  at  or  before  some  specified  future 
period,  usually  at  the  end  of  the  calendar  month. 
One  of  the  stipulations  of  this  kind  of  contract  is 
that  the  cotton  must  be  delivered  within  the  month 
and  the  buyer  must  receive  and  pay  for  it.  There 
is  no  option  about  the  contract  except  as  to  the 
time  the  seller  may  fulfill  it.  The  New  York  con- 
tract calls  for  the  delivery  at  the  seller's  option  upon 
three  days'  notice  to  the  buyer,  the  delivery  to  be 
made  from  one  warehouse.  The  New  Orleans 
contract  gives  the  buyer  five  days'  notice  of  delivery 
and  allows  the  seller  to  deliver  from  cotton  presses 
and  railroad  depots,  and  from  two  places.  These 
contracts  are  made  on  the  basis  of  Middling  Up- 
lands ;  when  the  cotton  is  of  better  grade,  a  higher 
price  is  paid  by  the  purchaser — and  a  lower  price, 
of  course,  if  the  staple  be  below  the  market  grade. 
Thus,  on  the  face  of  the  contract,  any  sort  of  cotton 
between  Fair  and  Good  Ordinary  may  be  delivered. 
Another  feature  of  the  contract  is  the  right  of  either 
party  to  call  for  a  margin  as  the  variation  of  the 


COTTON  239 

market  for  like  deliveries  may  warrant,  which 
margin  must  be  kept  good. 

Such  is  the  cotton  contract.  Legal  it  is,  and 
almost  a  product  in  its  own  right.  It  stands  for 
cotton,  but  is  sold  and  bought  because  of  itself, 
fluctuating  more  widely  and  frequently  than  the 
real  product. 

Since  the  principle  of  trading  in  cotton  contracts 
began  in  its  crudeness  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago, 
it  has  expanded  to  such  proportions  that,  in  the 
words  of  one  of  the  Exchange  members,  "during 
the  present  season  it  is  estimated  that  the  total 
number  of  bales  represented  by  the  options  bought 
and  sold  in  the  three  great  markets,  is  in  excess  of 
four  hundred  million,  or  practically  forty  times  the 
entire  American  production.  This  does  not  mean 
that  each  bale  of  cotton  has  been  sold  forty  times 
over,  but  it  does  mean  that  contracts  for  the  future 
delivery  of  forty  times  this  year's  crop  have  been 
traded  in." 

HOW    THE    CONTRACT    WORKS 

While  cotton  contracts  call  for  the  delivery  of 
cotton,  it  is  a  fact  that  real  cotton  is  seldom  deliv- 
ered. The  seller  when  selling  the  contract  never 
expected  to  deliver  the  commodity,  and  the  pur- 
chaser never  expected  to  receive  it.  In  fact,  the 
seller  did  not  actually  have  in  his  possession  any 
cotton  at  all;  and  the  purchaser,  if  cotton  were 
delivered  to  him,  would  not  know  what  to  do  with 
it.  It  would  not  be  going  too  far  to  say  that  some 
of  these  sellers  and  buyers  have  never  seen  a  bale 
of  cotton ;  they  might  even  not  know  what  one  looks 
like. 

All  of  these  market  features  have  had  to  do  with 


240  COTTON 

contracts  solely.  There  has  been  no  transfer  of 
property.  In  fact,  neither  party  during  any  part 
of  the  transaction  has  owned  any  property — except 
the  paper  on  which  the  contract  was  written.  This 
over-trading  feature  is  unreasonable  speculation 
of  the  kind  which  works  to  the  disadvantage  of 
legitimate  trade,  and  causes  prices  to  be  advanced 
or  depressed  without  a  single  act  to  justify  the 
change  in  right  and  morals. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  we  have  previously  sug- 
gested, cotton  contracts  for  future  delivery  may  be 
helpful  to  the  producer,  the  manufacturer  and  the 
merchant,  since  they  tend  to  distribute  the  move- 
ment of  cotton  through  a  period  of  twelve  months 
instead  of  through  a  few  months  only,  as  might 
be  the  case  now  were  cotton  sold  and  moved 
immediately  upon  its  being  gathered.  The  pro- 
ducer would  naturally  suffer  because  of  the  con- 
gested condition  of  the  market.  The  spinner  would 
profit,  since  this  congested  condition  would  seem 
to  be  to  his  advantage;  but  in  case  the  spinner 
should  under-buy,  he  would  find  it  necessary  to 
pay  excessive  prices — because  the  annual  market 
season  would  be  closed  and  the  speculator  would 
hold  the  key  to  the  door.  Under  the  present  system 
the  market  is  open  throughout  the  twelve  months — 
a  condition  advantageous  alike  to  both  producer 
and  consumer. 

THE    EXCHANGE    AND    THE    SPINNER 

The  Cotton  Exchange  has  therefore,  a  side  fa- 
vorable to  the  spinner.  With  him  cotton  is  a  real- 
ity: he  purchases  it  for  use  in  his  spinning  opera- 
tions, and  in  the  course  of  six,  eight,  or  ten  months 
it  will  be  purchased  by  the  ultimate  consumer. 


COTTON  241 

During  the  time  consumed  in  the  operations  from 
raw  material  to  finished  product,  capital  is  locked 
up  with  no  return  until  the  final  sale.  To  meet 
daily  and  monthly  requirements,  the  spinner  se- 
cures his  cotton.  So  close  is  the  margin  of  profit 
that  any  material  increase  in  price  in  the  raw  shape 
may  act  to  his  disadvantage,  even  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  wipe  out  his  profits  entirely.  To  protect 
these  profits  he  can  purchase  contracts  for  future 
delivery  which  will  enable  him  to  figure  actual  cost 
in  his  estimates — ^just  what  price  the  raw  product 
vv^ill  command  at  some  future  time.  It  insures  him 
on  actual  cost,  protects  him  if  an  advance  does  take 
place.  All  the  while,  too,  he  has  not  been  obliged 
to  secure  large  quantities  of  cotton  to  be  stored  and 
looked  after  from  day  to  day;  he  is  saved  all  this 
trouble,  risk,  and  expense. 

Briefly  then,  the  contract  for  cotton  for  future 
delivery  enables  the  spinner  to  secure  his  raw  ma- 
terial any  time  during  the  year,  and  safeguards 
him  against  a  time,  if  such  should  come,  when  it 
sells  for  an  abnormally  high  price.  It  should  be 
remembered,  however,  that  the  market  may  be 
so  manipulated  as  to  force  prices  for  future  delivery 
to  such  heights  as  to  threaten  his  profits,  unless  he 
has  continued  to  insure  and  protect  his  takings  by 
constant  buying  and  selling,  thus  putting  him  on 
the  defensive  and  in  the  tread-mill  of  speculation 
as  well.  These  constant  fluctuations  day  after  day 
the  year  round  are  the  evil  influences  at  work,  often 
to  the  spinner's  advantage  and  as  often  to  his 
disadvantage. 

WHAT    OF    THE    PRODUCER.? 

The  producer  may  at  times  imagine  that  trading 


242  COTTON 

in  cotton  contracts  is  to  his  interest;  indeed  there 
are  times  when  such  trading  does  operate  to  his 
advantage.  But  the  cotton  farmer  should  remem- 
ber that  the  machinery  of  the  Cotton  Exchange 
was  not  put  in  operation  as  a  means  of  helping 
him.  The  organization  came  about  solely  as  a 
provision  for  facilitating  trading  in  cotton  con- 
tracts, and  not  with  any  purpose  of  decreasing  the 
cost  of  production  or  of  increasing  the  selling  price 
of  the  commodity.  It  was  organized  for  al- 
together different  objects,  and  by  those  altogether 
unconcerned  with  the  production  of  cotton. 

Don't  be  deceived,  therefore,  into  thinking  that 
when  cotton  futures  advance  in  price,  it  is  an  effort 
to  bring  profits  to  the  producer.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  speculator  is  assuming  these  risks  neither 
for  the  fun  of  it  nor  for  charity ;  it  is  of  gain  for  him- 
self that  he  is  thinking.  Every  unreasonable 
advance  in  price  is  as  full  of  evil  to  the  producer  as 
an  unreasonable  depression  in  price.  The  "cor- 
ner" profits  but  few  farmers,  because  the  bulk  of 
cotton  is  already  in  the  hands  of  the  merchants  and 
speculators;  hence  the  farmer  has  an  apparent 
reward  only  in  the  fact  that  the  price  has  materially 
advanced  beyond  normal  limits.  While  this  is 
seemingly  favorable  to  the  producer,  it  acts  only 
as  a  stimulus  to  larger  acreage  the  following  sea- 
son— and  by  this  time  the  corner  has  long  exploded, 
leaving  in  its  wake  a  depressed  market  to  mark  its 
track,  and  to  receive  the  new  supply  (which  is 
probably  more  than  the  demand  calls  for).  Thus 
the  price  descends  to  still  lower  depths:  the  latest 
crop,  in  all  its  magnitude  and  with  all  its  labor  and 
cost  is  now  worth  much  less  than  its  more  modest 
predecessor. 

But  the  Cotton  Exchange  has  two  sides  favorable 


STAGES  OF  COTTON  PICKING. 

Because  otherwise  the  fleecy  locks  cannot  be  seen  for  the  green  leaves,  most 
pictures  show  picking  only  after  frost;  but  it  really  begins  long  before  the  plants 
cease  growing  and  blossoming. 


z  - 


Si 


COTTON  243 

to  the  farmer's  interests,  whether  or  not  other  con- 
siderations counterbalance  them. 

These  are:  first,  the  extended  activity  of  the 
market  from  a  short  period  to  an  entire  year;  and 
the  second,  a  demand  for  cotton  created  by  the 
Cotton  Exchanges  in  their  business  operations.  It 
is  safe  to  say  that  the  members  of  the  two  leading 
Cotton  Exchanges  find  it  necessary  to  control 
annually  nearly  a  half  million  bales  of  cotton. 
Here  is  a  specific  demand  that  exists  over  and  above 
the  takings  of  spinners.  While  the  Cotton  Ex- 
change does  not  consume  this  quantity  nor  with- 
draw it  from  circulation,  it  does  advertise  the  ar- 
ticle, thereby  creating  a  wider  market  for  the  prod- 
uct than  would  exist  if  spinners  alone  were 
purchasers. 

But  are  these  influences  of  suflBcient  importance 
to  be  of  any  material  benefit  to  the  producer.? 
Since  the  Cotton  Exchange  was  not  founded  with 
any  such  philanthropic  design,  and  since  in  its 
tradings  it  so  often  operates  adversely  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  producer,  it  may  readily  be  seen  that 
the  evils  more  than  counterbalance  the  good. 

So  we  may  say  that  on  the  whole  this  machinery 
is  not  helpful  to  the  farmer. 

THE    EVILS    COME    IN 

The  evil-in-chief  is  the  speculative  spirit  in  all 
this  trading  in  contracts.  To  legitimate  trade,  spec- 
ulation in  cotton  is  a  disadvantage — always  a 
disadvantage.  It  uses  all  sorts  of  tricks  and  prac- 
tices to  distort  real  conditions:  it  endeavors  to  "get 
the  other  fellow  on  the  hip"  and  to  hold  him 
there  until  he  is  "good  and  dead " ;  it  inflates  values 
part  of  the  time,  and  part  of  the  time  it  depresses 


244  COTTON 

them.  True  conditions,  correct  reports,  are  dis- 
torted; falsehoods  and  all  sorts  of  misrepresenta- 
tion are  indulged  in,  with  no  other  object  than  to 
make  profit  by  subverting  the  legitimate  play  of 
supply  and  demand.  Daily  fluctuations  in  prices 
are  due  to  these  speculative  influences  designed  to 
depress  or  advance.  While  the  wise  speculator 
endeavors  to  anticipate  and  correctly  interpret  the 
movement  of  the  fundamental  law,  it  is  true  that 
other  ignorant  ones  endeavor  to  work  in  oppo- 
sition to  it;  so  these  influences,  playmg  at  counter 
to  each  other,  keep  the  ticker  ever  busy,  recordmg 
the  hourly  fluctuations  from  season  to  season. 

ENTER  THE  IGNORANT  SPECULATOR 

This  indicates  that  there  are  two  kinds  of  spec- 
ulations: one  that  consistently  aims  to  buy  and 
sell  in  the  face  of  the  correct  play  of  the  law  of 
supply  and  demand;  the  second  that  throws  this 
law  to  the  wind,  knowingly  or  through  ignorance, 
and  accepts  the  situation  as  a  "gamble,"  a  blind 
chance, — as  uncertain  as  the  fling  of  a  penny.  It 
is  the  actor  in  this  second  instance  w^io  sows, 
knowing  not  what  he  will  reap,  and  who  introduces 
the  most  potent  evil  in  the  Cotton  Exchange. 

In  almost  every  town  and  city  of  the  country 
futures  are  now  bought  and  sold.  Speculative 
greed — getting  something  for  nothing — draws  the 
clerk,  the  journalist,  the  mechanic,  the  business 
man,  the  farmer — all  trades  and  professions,  and 
tempts  all  to  try  the  blind  chance.  And  this 
gambler  finds  the  chance,  sells  without  reason, 
buys  knowing  not  what,  nor  with  any  understand- 
ings as  to  the  workings  and  machinery  of  the 
transaction  in  which  he  engages. 


o  g 


!=5   .1 


COTTON  245 

This  individual  may  be  green,  an  innocent  rural 
"lamb,"  or  a  bold  manipulator,  securing  prey  on 
territory  not  even  his ;  on  the  very  floor  of  the  Ex- 
change itself  he  may  go  and  operate  in  his  unrea- 
sonable, unreasoning  way.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
repeat  the  story.  Chance  may  favor  him  with  a 
step  in  line  with  the  unchanging  law,  but  once  at 
cross-purposes  with  it,  though  ever  the  "corner" 
is  scented,  he  topples,  is  sacrificed,  and  lost. 

WHERE    THE    REMEDY    LIES 

To  eliminate  the  foolish  manipulator  (small  or 
mighty  though  he  be)  or  even  the  principle  of  spec- 
ulation itself,  is  impossible;  nor  can  we  abolish 
trading  in  contracts  on  the  ground  of  illegality. 
They  are  with  us,  a  part  of  our  commercial  meth- 
ods, and  with  us  they  will  stay. 

What  then  can  be  done  looking  to  regulation, 
that  justice  may  be  given  the  producer  and  the 
consumer:  and  protection  even  to  those  who  will 
indulge  therein  ?  The  following  reforms  may  be 
helpful : 

1.  Complete  publicity  of  past  and  probable  pro- 
duction should  be  had  that  supply  and  demand 
may  be  accurately  known  and  correctly  interpreted. 

2.  Remedy  the  over-trading  feature  of  the  Cotton 
Exchange. 

3.  Abolish  the  system  of  monthly  deliveries. 

4.  Increase  the  amounts  required  for  margin. 

5.  Grade  and  sell  cotton  according  to  the  prac- 
tical requirements  of  consumption. 

Publicity: — In  order  to  save  the  ignorant  specu- 
lator from  himself,  as  well  as  protect  legitimate 
trade,  only  the  most  complete  publicity  will  suffice. 
The  producer  can  receive  no  value  from  his  prod- 


246  COTTON 

uct,  unless  there  is  a  spinner  to  use  it;  hence,  both 
are  factors  in  this  trade  and  both  are  entitled  to 
information  as  complete  as  statistics  are  able  to 
give — first  to  the  producer,  that  he  may  know  what 
supply  and  demand  may  do  to  help  him  with  his 
sale:  second,  to  the  spinner  that  he  also  may  know 
these  facts  and  so  protect  himself  in  his  purchasing 
Then,  too,  publicity  will  assist  the  otherwise 
ignorant  players  with  the  ticker  that  they  may  keep 
away  from  ruin,  and  by  having  reliable  information 
thrust  before  their  very  eyes,  not  fly  into  the  face 
of  things  as  they  are. 

Over-tradmg: — Over-trading  in  the  cotton  mar- 
ket, as  is  the  case  with  exaggeration  of  any  other 
kind,  means  that  the  trade  inevitably  gets  on 
false  ground.  It  provides  the  opportunity  for  the 
"knowing ones,"  the  strong,  the  mighty,  not  only 
to  wrest  cotton  investments  from  the  weak  and 
immature,  but  it  puts  into  the  hands  of  the  mighty, 
the  power  necessary  to  rob  the  weak  of  all  their 
possessions,  and  to  bring  ruin  to  them  and  their 
dependents. 

When  this  abuse  is  checked,  the  day  of  such  ex- 
treme fluctuations  as  we  have  known  heretofore 
will  have  passed  and  much  of  the  evil  of  trading 
in  contracts  will  have  ended. 

Monthly  Deliveries: — Here  is  one  of  the  unrea- 
sonable features  of  the  Cotton  Exchange  machinery. 
Only  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  has  a  right  to 
determine  real  value  to  him  who  wants  a  com- 
modity. Yet  at  three  o'clock  on  the  last  day  of 
any  month  as  the  contract  now  operates,  cotton 
may  sell  one,  two,  and  even  three  and  four  cents 
higher  than  a  minute  after  that  time  of  the  same 
day,  or  at  ten  o'clock  the  day  following. 

This  is  nothing  but  a  trick,  a  fictitious  condition 


COTTON  247! 

both  unreasonable  and  illegal,  and  merits  the  same 
penalty  that  the  usurer  gets — or  deserves. 

Marginal  Amounts: — Trading  in  cotton  futures 
is  stimulated  and  abetted  because  of  the  small 
margin  required  to  enter  the  ring.  Of  course,  this 
admits  an  army  of  ignorant,  unthinking  people. 
It  is  a  game  of  chance  with  them — a  gambling 
game,  no  higher  in  ethics  than  shooting  craps  or 
playing  poker,  and  the  chances  many  times  more 
against  their  ever  coming  out  unburned.  What 
chance  is  there  for  mere  strength  and  awkward- 
ness in  such  an  arena  with  mighty,  well-trained 
gladiators  (scientifically  trained,  if  you  please)  to 
meet  and  combat.?  Of  course,  this  struggle  is 
short;  and  the  pity  is  in  the  home  where  the  sav- 
ings of  these  weaker  contestants  are  needed. 

Increase  the  margin — make  it  more  difficult  to 
enter  and  to  follow — and  the  evil  will  be  clipped 
at  the  wings — less  able  then  to  do  harm  here ;  less 
able  to  cause  these  violent  fluctuations  that  have 
adversely  affected  both  the  cotton  farmer  offering 
his  holdings  and  the  cotton  spinner  seeking  his 
takings. 

Grading: — Another  evil  is  in  the  fact  that  in  the 
Exchange  sale  any  sort  of  cotton  may  be  delivered. 
Suppose  the  farmer  buys  cattle  and  when  the  seller 
delivers  them,  they  may  be  any  sort  or  all  sorts — 
suckling  calves,  weaned  calves,  scrubs,  finished 
beeves,  etc.  It  is  with  just  such  a  policy  that  cotton 
contracts  are  traded  in,  since  the  deliverable  cotton 
may  be  all  the  way  from  fair  to  good  ordinary. 
Right  here  is  where  (leaving  the  morals  of  the 
question  out  of  consideration),  the  greatest  griev- 
ance lies,  and  where  it  affects  the  pocket-book  of 
both  producer  and  consumer.  And  then  these 
know  that  neither  one  nor  the  other  is  responsible, 


248  COTTON 

although  these  two  factors  only  are  concerned  with 
commodity — all  others  are  aliens.  Cotton  should 
be  graded  therefore  with  a  view  to  consumption. 
In  selling  cattle,  calves  and  scrubs  are  eliminated 
from  high  market  grades,  and  surely  the  low  grades 
of  cotton  can  be  eliminated  also.  The  contract 
would  act  with  more  justice  to  all  were  it  graded 
in  the  contract  from  Fair  to  and  including  Low 
Middling— a  reasonable  change,  and  a  fair  one  to 
all  concerned. 

All  in  all,  the  Cotton  Exchange,  like  business, 
is  subject  to  gross  misrepresentations.  Much  of 
the  feeling  against  it  is  due  to  ignorance  of  its 
methods  or  to  the  prejudice  that  comes  from  having 
had  one's  fingers  burned.  That  it  contains  much 
good  there  is  no  question.  What  its  future  will 
be  only  time  will  tell,  but  with  proper  reforms 
it  may  play  a  noteworthy  part  in  the  rich  kingdom 
of  cotton. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

STATISTICS :  HOW  THE  WORLD  WATCHES  WHILE  THE 
PLANT  GROWS 

There  is  a  reason  why  statistics  of  production 
and  consumption  of  cotton  should  be  made  accu- 
rately, completely,  and  frequently.  Trade  has  be- 
come so  complex  since  the  advent  of  the  Cotton 
Exchange — because  of  the  rapid  developments  of 
re-selling  on  close  margins,  taking  advantage  of 
fluctuations  in  prices  and  dealing  in  futures;  and 
using  unnatural  influences  to  fix  prices  by  manipu- 
lators— that  every  one  interested  has  come  to  rec- 
ognize the  need  of  some  strong  disinterested  agency 
to  make  reports  of  actual  facts  so  that  all  concerned 
may  be  better  guided  as  how  to  buy  or  sell. 

The  producer,  the  merchant,  the  speculator,  and 
the  consumer  must  ever  be  informed  as  to  the 
movement  of  the  law  of  supply  and  demand,  that 
the  market  of  neither  the  raw  product  nor  the 
finished  material,  may  be  congested  or  overloaded. 
Let  this  happen,  and  not  only  that  form  of  cotton 
immediately  concerned,  but  all  humanity,  will  suf- 
fer in  consequence  of  the  abnormal  condition. 
The  hope  lies  in  publicity — complete  and  accurate. 
These  reports  must  be  made  by  disinterested  par- 
ties: not  by  the  speculator  who  reports  a  bearish 
condition  of  the  market  that  prices  may  be  de- 
pressed, trying  to  favor  his  own  operations;  nor 


250  COTTON 

by  his  rival  with  his  bullish  reports  given  in  the 
hope  that  prices  may  advance  to  his  profit. 

It  is  to  the  Government  we  must  look  for  esti- 
mates of  such  a  character  that  they  may  be  de- 
pended upon  for  accuracy  and  reliability.  Besides, 
the  Government  is  impartial  and  aims  to  protect 
both  producer  and  consumer,  since  both  contribute 
to  its  machinery,  and  for  them  it  partially  exists. 

WHY  THE   GOVERNMENT   GATHERS   STATISTICS 

To  the  Department  of  Agriculture  is  intrusted 
this  work;  to  no  other  Department  of  the  Govern- 
ment could  it  be  more  safely  and  wisely  left;  by  no 
other  Department  can  the  condition  of  the  growing 
crop  be  so  accurately  and  completely  ascertained. 
The  purpose  of  the  Government's  cotton  reports 
is  to  ascertain  the  actual  facts  as  to  the  acreage, 
growing  condition,  and  the  prospective  yield  of  the 
crop.  Its  general  aims  may  be  enumerated  as  fol- 
lows: 

1.  To  give  information  to  producers,  consumers 
and  dealers  as  to  actual  yields;  also  to  report  as 
to  the  actual  conditions  of  promise. 

2.  To  enable  market  centers  to  better  balance 
supply  against  demand  in  defining  what  prices  are 
warranted  by  natural  conditions. 

3.  To  insure  whatever  stability  of  prices  a  chang- 
ing state  of  natural  conditions  allows. 

4.  To  be  so  certainly  authentic  and  comprehen- 
sive and  definite  for  entire  crop  areas  that  interested 
parties  cannot  well  credit  nor  warp  the  figures  with 
their  own  estimates,  and  thus  bring  about  unstable 
markets. 

5.  To  enable  producers  to  know  the  facts  as  to 
the  promise  of  prices  for  the  crop,  that  false  re- 


COTTON  251 

ports  may  not  mislead  them  into  early  sales  at 
prices  wrongfully  made  too  low. 

6.  To  create  confidence,  that  sales  and  consign- 
ments by  producers  may  be  made  more  freely, 
that  dealers  may  more  safely  conduct  their  busi- 
ness with  lower  handling  charges,  and  that  spin- 
ners may  more  freely  purchase  stocks  to  hold, 
thus  adding  certainty  and  stability  to  business, 
that  they  may  work  on  a  less  speculative  basis,  and 
thus  bring  more  equitable  returns  from  labor 
expenditure  to  all  interested  persons. 

7.  To  make  reports  so  frequently  and  to  give 
facts  so  soon  after  changes  in  prospective  condi- 
tions occur,  or  so  soon  after  actual  yields  are 
gathered,  that  there  may  be  the  least  possible  ele- 
ment of  uncertainty,  of  speculative  conditions,  to 
remove  prices  from  their  normal  economic  place. 

HOW  COTTON  STATISTICS  ARE  GATHERED 

The  large  body  of  people  concerned  with  the 
gathering  of  cotton  statistics  may  be  grouped  into 
the  five  following  classes : 

1.  The  State  Statistical  Agent  and  corps  of  aids. 

2.  Three  Cotton  Special  Field  Agents. 

3.  The  County  Agent  for  the  Department. 

4.  The  Township  Agents  for  the  Department. 

5.  Individual  reports  of  cotton  farmers. 

The  State  Statistical  Agent  is  a  paid  employee 
of  the  Department  who  reports  to  the  Bureau  of 
Statistics  the  information  which  he  obtains  from 
tabulations  that  are  sent  direct  to  him  by  his  corps 
of  aids  in  the  cotton  counties  of  his  State.  These 
aids  are  selected  because  of  their  qualifications  as 
farmers  of  judicial  mind  and  individual  integrity. 
This  part  of  the  crop-reporting  service  is  one  of 


252  COTTON 

the  best  means  of  securing  reliable  information. 
It  should  be  further  extended.  The  State  Agent 
should  receive  a  salary  commensurate  with  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  his  position,  and  sufficient  to  en- 
able him  to  maintain  a  well-equipped  office  and 
look  after  his  large  body  of  aids. 

Then  there  are  three  special  field  agents  who 
travel  constantly  through  the  cotton  territory,  each 
covering  a  group  of  States  assigned  him.  These 
men  are  trained  statisticians  and  selected  because 
of  their  wide  knowledge  and  broad  information 
regarding  the  cotton  crop.  They  travel  systematic- 
ally over  the  districts  in  their  charge,  note  carefully 
the  acreage  and  conditions;  keep  in  close  touch 
with  the  best  informed  opinion  as  to  the  cotton  crop. 
Their  knowledge  and  information  is  therefore  of 
the  highest  value  in  correcting  inaccuracies:  and 
it  is  given  monthly  or  oftener  to  the  Statistical 
Bureau  by  mail  and  telegraph. 

To  supplement  these,  information  is  obtained 
from  county  and  township  correspondents  who 
have  been  selected  because  of  fitness  and  knowl- 
edge; from  the  cotton  ginneries  and  from  corre- 
spondents representing  bankers,  and  country  mer- 
chants. 

SCOPE  OF   COTTON  STATISTICS 

Cotton  schedules  are  sent  to  all  these  classes  of 
reporters  each  month  of  the  growing  season.  The 
May  schedule  is  the  first  of  the  year  and  deals  with 
the  acreage  and  condition  of  cotton.  Following 
this  are  the  June,  July,  August  and  September 
schedules  dealing  with  the  condition  of  the  crop. 
The  August  report  also  deals  with  the  amount  of 
old  cotton  on  hand;  in  the  November  report  is  in- 


COTTON  253 

eluded  average  yield  of  cotton  per  acre,  abandoned 
acreage,  and  the  cost  of  picking. 

HOW    COTTON    REPORTS    ARE    HANDLED 

All  reports  dealing  with  cotton  statistics  are  sent 
by  telegraph  (in  cipher)  or  by  mail,  so  as  to  reach 
Washington,  where  the  Crop  Reporting  Board 
meets,  by  the  first  day  of  each  month  of  the  months 
in  which  such  reports  are  made. 

The  reports  of  the  State  Field  Agents  and  State 
Statistical  Agents  are  sent  to  the  Secretary  of  Agri- 
culture in  specially  prepared  envelopes,  and  deliv- 
ered to  him  by  the  postal  authorities  in  sealed  mail 
pouches.  These  as  they  arrive  are  placed  in  a 
safe  located  in  the  private  oflSce  of  the  Secretary, 
to  which  no  one  else  has  access,  until  the  day  on 
which  the  report  is  issued.  The  combination  of  the 
safe  moreover,  is  known  only  to  the  Secretary  of 
Agriculture  and  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  Agri- 
culture. 

HOW  THE  REPORTS  ARE  PREPARED 

The  reports  previously  sent  in  are  now  opened 
and  final  results  made  up  by  a  Crop  Reporting 
Board,  composed  of  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of 
Statistics  as  chairman  and  four  individual  members 
selected  from  the  Statisticians  and  oflScers  of  the 
Department.  For  each  month  there  is  an  incom- 
ing member,  not  on  the  sitting  of  the  estimating 
committee  immediately  previous.  On  the  report 
day,  this  Board  with  several  computors  meets  in 
the  office  of  the  Statistician  which  is  kept  locked, 
no  one  being  allowed  to  enter  or  to  leave  it.  All 
telephones  are  disconnected. 

When  all  data  has  been  placed  before  each  mem- 


254  COTTON 

ber  of  the  Board,  each  individual  computes  sep- 
arately his  own  estimate  of  cotton  for  each  State. 
When  this  is  done  comparisons  are  made  and  dis- 
cussions are  engaged  in  before  the  final  figures 
are  decided  upon.  Each  and  every  township, 
county,  and  State  is  properly  "weighted"  so  as  to 
give  the  arithmetical  value  which  the  acreage  in 
that  area  demands.  On  the  completion  of  this 
work,  the  report  is  ready  to  be  given  out,  and  goes 
with  lightning  speed  to  almost  every  part  of  the 
world. 

HOW   THE    COTTON   REPORT   IS   ISSUED 

Reports  on  cotton  thus  prepared  by  the  Crop 
Reporting  Board  are  issued  on  the  3d  of  each 
month  during  the  growing  season.  In  order  that 
the  information  contained  in  these  reports  may 
be  made  simultaneously  throughout  the  entire 
United  States,  and  that  one  part  of  the  country  may 
not  have  any  advantage  over  another,  they  are 
handed  simultaneously  at  a  given  hour  (as  for  ex- 
ample, at  12  o'clock  noon  or  4  p.  m.)  on  report  days, 
to  all  applicants,  and  are  given  to  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company  and  the  Postal  Tele- 
graph Cable  Company  for  transmission  to  the  ex- 
changes and  to  the  press.  These  companies  have 
reserved  their  lines  at  a  designated  time,  and  by 
use  of  a" flash"  forward  immediately  the  figures  of 
most  interest.  A  mimeograph  statement  for  com- 
parative purposes,  containing  such  estimates  of 
condition  or  actual  production,  together  with  the 
corresponding  estimates  of  former  years,  is  prepared 
and  sent  to  a  mailing  list  of  exchanges,  newspaper 
publications,  and  individuals.  The  same  after- 
noon printed  cards  containing  the  essential  facts 


COTTON  255 

concerning  cotton  and  the  most  important  crops 
of  the  report  are  mailed  to  77,000  post  offices 
throughout  the  United  States  for  public  display, 
thus  placing  the  information  within  the  farmer's 
immediate  reach. 

MONTHLY    CONDITION    REPORT    OF    COTTON 

The  cotton  crop  must  be  observed  throughout 
its  growing  period  if  accurate  conclusions  are  to  be 
drawn  in  regard  to  its  output.  Even  then  only 
an  approximate  estimate  can  be  made.  Such  an 
estimate  is  helpful  to  the  producer  in  assisting  him 
in  disposing  of  his  crop;  it  helps  the  spinner  in 
making  his  purchases.  Both  depend,  in  some 
measure  at  least,  upon  facts  not  yet  accomplished. 
Favorable  conditions  in  June  do  not  mean  that  an 
unfavorable  season  may  not  disturb  growth  and 
prospects  in  August  or  September. 

A  farmer  once  planted  for  twenty  bales.  Rain 
came  and  brought  grass  and  troubles,  threatening 
the  crop;  June  had  come  and  scarcely  ten  bales 
were  hoped  for.  But  weather  during  July  was 
favorable — much  sunshine  during  the  day  and 
little  rain  at  night;  the  crop  flourished,  the  weed 
became  strong,  and  vigorous — and  thirty  bales  were 
now  anticipated.  But  more  rain  came,  fairly  cover- 
ing the  ground;  unripe  bolls  began  to  shed,  leaves 
turned  in  color,  the  big  crop  was  no  longer  thought 
of — a  yield  of  ten  or  twelve  bales  would  now  be  all 
that  might  be  expected.  But  better  days  came  in 
August — days  more  favorable  to  the  crop — growth 
of  weed  checked  itself  to  correct  proportions,  the 
old  bolls  enlarged,  and  the  farmer  brightened  in 
hope  and  expectation  that  results  might  be  better 
than   "things   looked   at   one   time."     September 


256 


COTTON 


with  its  picking  season  soon  passed,  and  prospects 
for  fifteen  or  twenty  bales  were  now  brighter:  Octo- 
ber soon  passed  and  November  ended  the  gathering 
of  the  crop.     Twenty-six  bales  had  been  secured. 

This  illustration  shows  how  fickle  is  the  season 
and  its  crop.  While  in  this  case  better  returns  fol- 
lowed than  were  anticipated,  it  is  just  as  often  true 
that  contrary  results  are  realized.  Hence,  with  the 
cotton  crop  you  can  make  no  estimate  by  a  hasty 
review  or  a  glance  from  the  window  of  the  railroad 
car.  You  must  watch  the  crop  throughout  its 
growing  season,  and  all  the  while  be  prepared  for 
any  turn  this  capricious  crop  may  take  because  of 
some  disease  or  some  change  in  weather. 

The  table  following  shows  the  estimates  from 
month  to  month  for  several  years  as  reported  by  the 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture : 

MONTHLY  COTTON  REPORT 

United  States  Department  of  Agriculture 


1 

o 

o 

rt 

R 

•5! 

a 

i 

^ 

■;:; 

^ 

^ 

•5 

in 

s 

^ 

^ 

in 

z 

^ 

o 

Pm 

< 

s 

H 

< 

H 

s 

83 

78 

84 

88 

87 

! 

73  73 

69 

73 

87 

84 

82 

78 

82 

87  83 

72  73 

72 

75 

86 

86 

80 

79 

82 

85  79 

69  66 

71 

68 

80 

85 

76 

75 

77 

77,70 

68  62 

70 

72 

81 

86 

77 

74 

76 

76  70 

68 

59 

69 

72 

79 

81 

84 

81 

78 

88  80 

85 

86 

84 

84 

85 

82 

90!  88 

8.5 

92  85  89  90 

89 

90 

89 

89 

93  91 

91 

94  90  92  95 

91 

93 

92 

90 

8887 

86 

88  84 

87,87 

77 

88 

88 

87 

82 

81 

78 

82 

76 

77 

78 

69 

77 

76 

82 

1905 

June 

July 

August .  . . 
September 
October  . . 

1904 

June 

July 

August .  . . 
September 
October  .  . 


77.2 

77 

74.9 

72.1 
71.2 

83 
88 

91.6 

84.1 

83175.8 


COTTON 


257 


MONTHLY  COTTON  REPORT 

{Continued) 


1903 

June 

July 

August . . . 
September 
October  . . 

1902 

June 

July 

August .  . . 
September 
October  .  . 

1901 

June 

July 

August .  . . 
September, 
October..  . 

1900 
June 

July 

August .  . . 
September 
October  .  . 

1899 

June 

July 

August .  . . 
September 
October     . 

1898 

June 

July 

August .  . . 
September. 
October..  . 


72  74 

76  75 

76,78 
86  83 

77  74 


62 


64 


63 


100 


74.1 
77.1 

79.7 
81.2 
65.1 

95.1 

84.7 
81.9 
64 
58.3 

81.5 
81.1 
77.2 
71.4 
61.4 

.5 
95.8 
76 

2 
67 

85.7 

87.8 

84 

68.5 

62.4 

89 

91.2 

91.2 

79.8 

75.4 


258 


COTTON 


ANNUAL  ESTIMATE   OF   COTTON   CROP 

It  has  been  the  custom  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  annually  on  December  1st  to  estimate 
the  yield  in  cotton  for  each  State  and  the  total  for 
all  the  cotton-producing  States.  This  estimate 
compared  with  the  report  of  the  Census  Bureau 
(which  is  charged  with  the  duty  of  publishing  the 
exact  amount  produced  after  the  crop  has  been 
entirely  ginned)  for  the  last  seven  years,  shows  that 
the  estimates  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  have 
been  within  an  average  of  one  and  four-tenths  per 
cent,  of  absolute  accuracy,  which,  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  "to  err  is  human"  is  little  short  of  mirac- 
ulous. 

This  fact   is   shown  in  the  table  following: 

NUMBER    OF    POUNDS    OF   LINT    COTTON 


Department    of 

Per  cent. 

Agriculture 

Over 

Under 

1899 

4,320,193,000 

4,457,097,000 

3.  1 

1900 

4,856,738,000 

4,846,471,000 

.2 

1901 

4,529,954,000 

4,550,950,000 

.5 

1902 

5,111,870,000 

5,091,641,000 

.4 

1903 

4,889,796,000 

4,706,591,000 

3.  9 

1904 

6,157,064,000 

6,426,698,000 

4.  2 

1905 

5,083,909,000 

5,389,155,149 

6.   0 

MORE    FREQUENT    REPORTS 


The  objection  to  the  reports  of  the  Department 
now  may  be  said  to  lie  with  their  infrequency.  So 
important  is  correct  and  accurate  information  to 
the  producer  and  consumer,  and  so  important  too  is 


COTTON  259 

the  cotton  crop  to  the  whole  world,  that  it  seems 
advisable  to  have  the  reports  issued  more  often, 
instead  of  only  once  each  month  as  is  now  the 
custom.  Were  this  the  case,  the  fluctuations  in 
prices  upon  the  appearance  of  the  Government 
report  would  not  be  so  marked,  and  the  market 
would  remain  more  stable,  and  more  truly  re- 
sponsive to  the  law  of  supply  and  demand. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

PRICES :  THE  PUZZLING  PROBLEM  OF  COTTON  VALUES 

There  is  an  economic  principle  which  applies  to 
all  products  of  the  land  and  to  all  products  of  the 
shop:  The  final  utilityof  the  product  shall  determine 
its  market  value.  When  a  commodity  becomes 
necessary  for  any  purpose,  it  will  bring  in  the  mar- 
ket whatever  price  is  necessary  to  produce  it  once  or 
to  reproduce  it  again. 

If  it  costs  ten  cents  to  produce  a  pound  of  cotton 
and  ten  million  bales  are  wanted,  then  if  there  is 
land  enough  and  men  enough  who  will  be  satisfied 
to  produce  it  at  that  price,  ten  cents  a  pound  will  be 
the  market  price.  But  if  twelve  million  bales  are 
needed  and  wanted,  you  may  or  you  may  not  have 
a  different  proposition:  all  available  cotton  land 
may  be  already  in  use ;  other  workers  may  not  care 
to  engage  in  the  work  at  the  price  offered;  and  if 
they  do  not  turn  to  it,  the  increased  quantity  cannot 
be  grown.  What  follows  ?  The  economic  princi- 
ple answers:  If  cotton  is  in  greater  demand  than 
other  things,  then  a  higher  price  will  be  offered  for 
it  in  order  that  laborers  may  be  attracted  to  it ;  that 
lands  now  given  to  other  products  be  given  to  cot- 
ton; that  owners  of  land  on  which  ten-cent  cotton 
would  not  pay,  shall  have  the  inducement  of  higher 
prices.  So  the  additional  two  million  bales  are 
produced.     On    this   basis  an   increase   shall   be 

(260) 


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^ [-  j  •,;    '    -;    -■-■■•_i  ^1 j         1 1 

^==     !  "i— -   V!     !  i  I  ^==^===^H^==±> 

'    M   ^  ^   i  :    ^   ■    ^    .    i    .   1  i   .    1    i    '    1    M  TI    1    i-^    I    'cJ: 


THE  EBB  AND  FLOW  OF  COTTON  PRICES. 

The  drawing  shows  in  vivid  fashion  the    fluctuations  in  prices — highest  and 
lowest — of  spot  cotton  for  each  year  since  1826. 


COTTON  261 

given,  and  the  price  we  will  say  is  now  twelve  cents. 
But  how  will  this  advance  in  price  affect  that  re- 
ceived for  the  usual  crop  ?  It  will  cause  it  to  ad- 
vance also  and  meet  the  new  scale  in  price. 

It  may  happen  that  there  are  men  enough  and 
equipment  sufficient  to  produce  not  only  the  nor- 
mal quantity  but  enough  to  handle  additional  acres 
as  well.  When  the  call  comes  for  more  cotton  it 
may  not  be  met,  since  all  lands  that  pay  at  the  ten- 
cent  rate  are  growing  it  already.  What  happens? 
The  intensity  of  the  demand  will  control.  If  it 
is  insisted  upon,  the  grower  will  supply  it  through 
heavier  applications  of  fertilizers  and  through 
increased  acreage.  But  at  what  price  shall  he 
sell  it.'*  He  may  sell  it  at  the  same  price  as  he 
has  heretofore  been  selling.  But  if  that  grown  on 
good  soil  in  previous  years  was  produced  and  sold 
for  ten  cents  per  pound,  which  in  every  sense  was  a 
reasonable  rate,  then  if  he  now  sells  this  increased 
product  at  the  old  price, — a  product  that  costs  him 
more  to  produce  since  the  yield  is  less  and  expense 
more — he  will  sell  the  increased  product  at  less 
than  cost,  thereby  losing  in  the  enterprise. 

To  meet  this  condition  brought  about  by  opening 
up  new  lands,  the  grower  will  have  to  take  from 
his  normal  and  usual  crop,  returns  to  make  good 
the  deficiency  of  the  new.  This  the  wise  man  will 
not  do.  On  the  other  hand,  this  follows  in  practice : 
Since  more  cotton  is  wanted,  and  since  other  acres 
are  not  so  profitable,  in  order  to  get  the  same  profit 
for  the  additional  land  as  that  received  on  other 
lands  before  the  enlarged  demand  came,  every 
grower  will  expect  more  per  pound. 

But  the  producing  power  of  land  does  not  govern 
price — only  directs  it;  it  is  the  commodity  itself 
that  fixes  values,  hence  if  twelve  cents  is  paid  for 


262  COTTON 

each  pound  produced  on  these  less  desirable  lands, 
the  commodity  in  its  entirety  will  bring  the  same 
price,  irrespective  of  the  kind  of  land  on  which  it 
was  produced. 

It  follows  then  that  not  tJie  cost  of  the  average 
crop,  but  the  cost  of  growing  that  part  of  the  crop 
produced  at  the  greater  cost  or  greater  disadvantage 
will  govern  the  market  price  of  cotton. 

He  who  is  so  unfortunately  situated  as  to  grow 
his  cotton  at  the  greatest  disadvantage  gets  no 
profit  at  all;  while  on  the  other  hand  profits  go 
in  proportion  as  cotton  is  grown  with  ease  and 
economy. 


THE   RANGE   OF  THE   COST 

The  statement  is  often  made  that  cotton  is  grown 
now  at  a  cost  of  from  three  to  four  cents  per  pound, 
and  hence  that  there  is  a  tremendous  profit  in  the 
business  of  cotton  farming — a  profit  of  as  much  as 
two  or  even  three  hundred  per  cent.  This  being 
the  case,  we  hear  further,  cotton  sells  at  an  un- 
reasonable price,  and  nets  the  producer  a  greater 
reward  than  economic  conditions  justify. 

That  some  cotton  may  be  produced  on  some  land 
and  during  some  seasons  at  three  or  four  cents  per 
pound  there  is  no  doubt;  but  there  is  indeed  a  small 
acreage  where  these  conditions  obtain.  In  no  way, 
we  argue,  is  it  justifiable  to  use  these  exceptional 
seasons  as  a  basis  for  estimating  the  cost  of  produc- 
ing cotton  or  for  measuring  profits — any  more  than 
it  is  justifiable  to  say  that  since  some  banking 
houses  in  New  York  City  make  annual  profits  of 
from  100  to  200  per  cent,  that  is  the  profit  realized 
by  all  banks  throughout  the  country.    The  facts  are 


6% 


COTTON  263 

that  on  the  basis   of  present  acreage  and  cost  of 
production : 

3  cents  cost  per  pound  represents  1%  of  acreage. 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 
10 
11 
12 


28% 
16% 
9% 
7% 
6% 
3% 
1% 


This  shows  that  even  today  when  cotton  sells 
for  ten  cents  a  pound  one-tenth  of  the  acreage  does 
no  more  (possibly  less)  than  meet  the  cost  of  pro- 
ducing it.  Sixty  per  cent  of  the  crop  costs  between 
5  and  7  cents  to  produce  on  the  basis  of  mere  cul- 
tivation. Thousands  of  acres  of  cotton  are  grown 
annually  where  the  product  pays  only  the  rental 
and  fertilizer  bills,  the  tenant  at  the  end  of  the  sea- 
son receiving  no  compensation  at  all  for  his  labor 
during  the  period  of  the  growth  of  the  crop.  Were 
it  not  for  his  poultry,  his  pig,  his  potato  patch,  his 
few  peas,  and  the  extra  work  he  does  in  the  winter 
months,  he  and  his  family  would  starve  or  be 
thrown  on  the  State.  These  are  real  facts,  gath- 
ered at  first  hand  from  observation  and  experi- 
ence. Doubt  them  if  you  like ;  but  if  you  observe 
you  will  be  convinced  of  their  absolute  truth. 

After  awhile  we  shall  abandon  these  unprofit- 
able acres ;  we  shall  give  them  over  to  cowpeas  and 
pasture,  and  use  for  cotton  only  those  lands  so 
adapted  to  the  crop  as  to  make  it  sure  that  they 
will  net  a  reasonable  profit. 


264  COTTON 

NORMAL    FLUCTUATION   OF   PRICES 

Eliminating  the  waste  of  ignorance  which  plays 
a  part  in  cotton  production  because  of  the  presence 
of  the  illiterate  tenant,  when  the  price  falls  below 
the  cost  of  production  because  of  overproduction, 
poor  producing  lands  are  dropped  from  use;  those 
engaged  in  cotton  farming  receive  smaller  returns 
and  less  cotton  is  produced  until  consumption  in- 
creases so  as  to  use  the  product  as  rapidly  as  pro- 
duced. Were  one-fifth  of  the  present  acreage 
to  be  put  to  some  other  use,  cotton  would  immediate- 
ly advance  in  price:  the  four-fifths  quantity  would 
yield  in  value  a  gross  revenue  perhaps  equal  to 
or  greater  than  the  five-fifths  at  the  present  time 
and  at  present  prices,  consumption  remaining  the 
same  all  the  while.  On  the  other  hand,  were  con- 
sumption to  decrease  one-fifth  and  production  re- 
main the  same,  the  price  would  decline  until  either 
consumption  should  increase  again  or  enough  cot- 
ton lands  be  abandoned  to  balance  supply  and 
demand. 

PRODUCTION    AND    CONSUMPTION 

This  adjustment  between  production  and  con- 
sumption, as  we  have  said,  is  regulated  by  the  in- 
evitable law  of  supply  and  demand,  which  at  times 
may  be  influenced  iby  attachments  with  other  com- 
modities that  may  be  or  may  not  be  substituted, 
thus  adding  further  complications  to  the  situation. 

So  cotton  growing  and  cotton  spinning  long  have 
been  working  partners;  although  they  have  had 
their  quarrels,  they  are  fairly  adjusted  so  that  sup- 
ply and  demand  operate  within  rather  narrow 
limits,  conditions  being  in  no  wise  open  to  serious 


COTTON 


265 


rupture.  Acreage  is  gradually  increasing,  but  so 
also  is  the  number  of  spindles ;  so  also  is  the  demand 
for  the  products  of  these  acres  and  spindles. 

While  during  the  past  twenty-five  years  there 
has  been  no  great  change  in  the  price  of  the  raw 
product,  it  is  true  that  the  cost  of  farm  labor  has 
increased  with  no  appreciable  decrease  in  the  gen- 
eral cost  of  production ;  it  is  true  also  that  manufac- 
tured goods  have  very  greatly  decreased  in  price, 
while  here  the  cost  of  production  has  materially 
decreased  because  of  increased  skill  in  manufacture 
and  the  increasingly  large  number  of  labor-saving 
machines. 


PRICES    OF    COTTON 


That  the  selling  price  of  cotton  has  not  decreased 
is  seen  in  the  table  below;  but  let  it  be  remembered 
that  few  improved  tools  and  implements  have  yet 
been  found  of  service  in  cotton  production  so  as 
to  decrease  the  cost  of  growing. 


HIGH  AND  LOW  PRICES  IN  NEW  YORK 
FOR  MIDDLING  UPLAND  COTTON 


Year 

Highest 
cents 

Lowest 
cents 

Year 

Highest 
cents 

Lowest 
cents 

1826 

14 

9 

1836 

20 

12 

1827 

12 

8 

1837 

17 

7 

1828 

13 

9 

1838 

12 

9 

1829 

11 

8 

1839 

16 

11 

1830 

13 

8 

1840 

10 

8 

1831 

11 

7 

1841 

11 

9 

1832 

12 

7 

1842 

9 

7 

1833 

17 

9 

1843 

8 

5 

1834 

16 

10 

1844 

9 

5 

1835 

20 

15 

1845 

8| 

5 

266 


COTTON 


HIGH  AND   LOW  PRICES  IN  NEW  YORK 
lOR    MIDDLING    UPLAND    COTTON 

(Continued) 


Year 

Highest 
cents 

Lowest 
cents 

Year 

Highest 
cents 

Lowest 
cents 

1846 

10 

6 

1876 

13| 

lOJ 

1847 

12 

7 

1877 

13t^ 

lon- 

1848 

8 

5 

1878 

124V 

StV 

1849 

11 

6 

1879 

13| 

H 

1850 

14 

11 

1880 

m 

lOlf 

1851 

14 

8 

1881 

13 

lOi 

1852 

10 

8 

1882 

13iV 

lOi 

1853 

11 

10 

1883 

IH 

10 

1854 

10 

8 

1884 

1111 

9} 

1855 

12 

8 

1885 

IH 

H 

1856 

13 

9 

1886 

H 

8i 

1857 

15J 

9 

1887 

iH 

9J 

1858 

13^ 

8f 

1888 

iif 

n 

1859 

12| 

lOf 

1889 

iH 

9} 

1860 

llf 

10 

1890 

12f 

9i 

1861 

38 

iH 

1891 

n 

n 

1862 

691 

20 

1892 

10 

H 

1863 

93 

51 

1893 

9-lf- 

n 

1864 

190 

72 

1894 

8ii 

si 

1865 

120 

35 

1895 

9f 

StI 

1866 

52 

32 

1896 

8| 

T-iV 

1867 

36 

15^ 

1897 

8i 

5J 

1868 

33 

16 

1898 

6tV 

5^ 

1869 

35 

25 

1899 

n 

H 

1870 

25} 

15 

1900 

m 

H 

1871 

21i 

14| 

1901 

12| 

n 

1872 

27| 

m 

1902 

9| 

n 

1873 

21| 

13f 

1903 

13f 

8* 

1874 

18J 

14f 

1904 

17-1 

6i 

1875 

1^ 

13iV 

1905 

12f 

6i 

COTTON  267 

It  is  seen  here  that  the  variation  from  lowest  to 
highest  prices  has  remained  quite  the  same  since 
1826,  with  the  exception  of  the  period  of  War  and 
Reconstruction.  Of  course  this  is  a  significant 
fact;  for  while  all  other  great  products  of  the  land 
have  decreased  in  selling  price,  cotton  remains 
the  same  (within  normal  fluctuations)  during  the 
entire  period.  This  fact  tells  more  forcibly  than 
all  others  of  the  kingship  of  this  imperial  crop  and 
the  hold  it  has  on  all  the  world — a  kingdom  that 
includes  all  land  and  sea  in  its  borders,  that  num- 
bers all  people  as  subjects,  and  is  richer  than  any 
rival  crop. 

FLUCTUATION    IN    PRICES 

Normally  and  theoretically,  the  law  of  supply 
and  demand  regulates  the  yearly,  monthly,  and 
daily  price  of  cotton.  With  the  advent  of  the  Cot- 
ton Exchange  this  has  to  a  certain  extent  been 
modified:  its  machinery  has  given  us  a  more  deli- 
cate movement  in  price  fluctuations.  It  is  the 
constant  anticipation  almost  every  minute — of  the 
play  of  this  law  on  the  Exchange  that  keeps  the 
"ticker"  busy  in  suggesting  movements  and  es- 
tablishing prices  for  the  staple.  At  times  some 
force,  with  little  or  with  much  power,  may  work 
counter  to  this  law  with  such  intensity  and 
strength  as  to  force  the  price  up  or  down,  but 
only  for  the  time  being,  the  pendulum  of  prices 
shoving  back,  showing  by  its  act  its  determination 
that  the  law  shall  not  long  remain  disturbed.  It 
is  this  feature  of  the  cotton  market  that  works 
to  the  disadvantage  of  both  farmer  and  spinner, 
creating  unstable  situations,  depressing  prices  for 
the  farmer,  advancing  them  for  the  manufacturer. 


268  COTTOX 

and  giving  the  profit  to  the  intermediary  alien — the 
cotton  manipulator. 

THE  COTTON  CONTRACT  IS  TO  BE  BLAMED 

It  is  not  our  purpose  here  to  discuss  the  ethical 
phase  of  the  cotton  contract;  rather  simply  to  ob- 
serve its  practical  workings.  The  small  margin 
required  for  operations  on  the  floor  of  the  Exchange 

Euts  into  the  hands  of  the  speculator  an  unreason- 
le  amount  of  wealth  altogether  out  of  proportion 
to  his  commitment.  Said  one  of  those  in  the  game : 
*'  You  get  a  better  run  for  your  money  than  in  poker, 
in  any  game  of  chance,  in  any  gamble." 

To  particularize,  here  is  an  example :  It  is  pos- 
sible for  a  man  with  but  $100  margin  to  buy  or  sell 
in  the  office  of  a  broker  one  hundred  bales  of  cotton 
for  some  future  delivery.  At  the  price  of  ten  cents 
per  pound  his  tradings  equal  $5,000 — and  his  cap- 
ital $100.  From  its  very  nature  this  is  speculation 
of  the  rankest  kind.  Under  this  system  it  has  been 
shown  that  "  a  member  of  the  New  York  Exchange 
made  contracts  for  the  purchase  of  300,000  bales 
of  cotton,  worth  at  current  prices  then  about  $24, 
000,000.  This  enormous  commitment  was  made 
without  the  deposit  of  any  cash  guarantee  or  re- 
sponsibility, and  when  default  in  the  contracts  was 
announced  it  was  liquidated  at  a  loss  of  approxi- 
mately $3,000,000  to  the  parties  who  sold  the 
cotton." 

Do  you  doubt  that  so  long  as  such  a  system  pre- 
vails, extreme  and  unreasonable  fluctuations  in  the 
market  will  occur,  and  to  the  great  disadvantage 
of  both  producer  and  consumer.?  Such  fluctua- 
tions occur  after  the  cotton  has  left  the  hands  of  the 


COTTON  269 

producer;  he  profits  not  by  the  increase  in  price, 
nor  does  the  consumer  who  must  pay  it. 

WILL  THE  SELLING  PRICE  OF  COTTON  DECREASE  ? 

Only  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  will  estab- 
lish in  the  long  run  the  selling  price  of  cotton.  This 
law  is  no  respecter  of  persons  or  of  occupations. 
Get  production  ahead  and  out  of  reach  of  demand 
and  prices  will  inevitably  sink;  get  it  below  demand 
and  prices  will  advance  just  so  far  as  the  commercial 
safety  valve  will  permit.  A  supply  that  is  greater 
than  can  be  immediately  consumed  will  depress 
the  price,  regardless  of  the  cost  of  production. 
There  is  no  respite ;  the  law  in  the  end  will  enforce 
its  own  decrees. 

The  question  now  arises,  "If  supply  and  demand 
are  properly  regulated  and  adjusted,  will  the  nor- 
mal price  of  cotton  decrease  .^" 

We  think  not,  for  the  reason  already  discussed 
in  our  consideration  of  those  economic  principles 
that  govern  the  cost  of  the  raw  product.  It  is  true 
that  improved  tools  and  implements  will  come; 
fertilizers  will  be  used  more  judiciously,  and  with 
more  economy ;  improved  methods  will  be  adopted ; 
wastefulness  and  carelessness  will  be  eliminated 
more  and  more ;  and  the  cotton  picker  will  probably 
come  to  gather  the  cotton  more  cheaply — all  will 
contribute  to  the  lessening  of  the  expense  now 
prominent  in  cotton  production.  But  these  savings 
will  not  be  deducted  from  the  selling  end — they 
will  go  to  the  producer.     And  why  ? 

1.  The  laborer  or  tenant,  negro  or  white,  is  more 
poorly  fed,  lives  in  a  shabbier  home,  has  fewer 
comforts  and  luxuries,  receives  a  smaller  wage, 
than  the  laborer  or  worker  in  almost  any  other 


270  COTTON 

form  of  industry  in  this  country.  Hence,  as  profits 
are  increased  because  of  savings  in  production,  the 
laborer  and  tenant  will  receive  better  compensation. 
2.  The  cotton  planter  will  receive  his  proportion 
as  a  legitimate  reward  for  his  labor  and  capital. 
It  is  true  that  many  cotton  farmers  are  making 
money ;  they  are  improving  their  lands,  their  houses, 
their  stock  and  their  equipment;  they  are  building 
better  churches  and  educating  their  children.  As 
these  increase,  they  call  for  better  incomes  to  sup- 
port them ;  so  the  saving  in  cost  will  go  to  the  plant- 
er for  greater  comforts  for  himself  and  his  family 
and  for  reasonable  luxuries  as  well. 

TEN  CENT  COTTON   IS  NOT  UNREASONABLE 

Most  arguments  one  hears  about  the  price  of  cot- 
ton are  in  the  main  to  the  effect  that  cotton  sells 
for  more  than  it  is  worth. 

There  are  many  stages  of  profit  from  lint  on  the 
farm  to  cloth  in  the  retail  store.  Nowhere,  how- 
ever, is  profit  discussed  except  in  reference  to  lint 
on  the  farm.  Here  are  the  facts  in  the  case:  A 
one-horse  farm  of  twenty  acres  produces  4,000 
pounds  of  cotton  which  sells  at  ten  cents.  This 
gives  the  farmer  a  gross  income  of  $400.  Looking 
at  this  from  the  most  optimistic  viewpoint,  that 
farmer  did  not  clear  on  this  twenty  acres  more  than 
$80,  and  out  of  this  must  come  interest,  mainte- 
nance and  accumulative  gain.  The  manufacturer 
takes  that  cotton  and  from  the  4,000  pounds  he 
manufactures  16,000  yards  of  calico,  which  sells 
for  $800  gross.  Take  it  that  there  is  but  a  small 
fraction  of  profit  on  the  yard,  when  considered  in 
connection  with  the  great  quantities  handled,  his 
profit  is  no  small  amount.     From  the  manufacturer 


COTTON  271 

the  goods  go  to  the  jobber,  and  at  last  to  the  counter 
in  the  dry  goods  store.  What  are  profits  here? 
Sixteen  thousand  yards  at  5  cents  per  yard  cost 
$800 ;  that  number  of  yards  sold  at  7^  cents  brings 
gross  $1200 — a  profit  as  great  to  the  retail  merchant 
as  the  price  the  farmer  receives  for  his  entire  crop. 

THE    CONTROL    OF    PRODUCTION 

Is  it  right  for  the  producer  to  control  the  output 
of  his  commodity  ?  Why  not  ?  So  long  as  supply 
is  more  than  demand,  is  it  wrong  in  principle  to 
waste  capital,  and  energy  and  life  in  producing  it  ? 
More  than  this,  5,000,000  people  are  directly  in- 
terested in  the  production  of  cotton  crops.  When 
you  flood  the  market  with  raw  material,  and  send  it 
forth  in  larger  quantities  than  spindles  can  use, 
you  disturb  the  stability  of  trade  and  menace  the 
peace  and  happiness  of  these  five  million  souls. 
Is  there  no  injury  here  ?  Greater  evils,  moreover, 
sweep  over  the  land — even  in  other  directions — if 
more  cotton  is  produced  than  can  be  used  by  a 
consuming  world.  It  is  good  business,  good  prac- 
tice, good  morals,  to  move  supply  and  demand 
along  together,  as  they  now  move,  and  this  can 
continue  only  by  controlling  the  supply,  for  the 
present,  increasing  it  as  demand  calls  for  more. 

So  long  as  the  manufacturer,  the  broker,  the 
merchant  live  in  costly  houses ;  so  long  as  the  spin- 
ner, the  weaver,  the  clerks  enjoy  comforts  in  dress 
and  live  easily,  so  long  should  no  one  complain 
that  the  cotton  farmer  and  his  tenant  likewise  have 
similar  comforts  and  luxuries. 


SECTION  IV. 
MANUFACTURES    AND    BY-PRODUCTS 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


COTTON  SEED  :  ONCE  AN  OUTCAST  NOW  A  PRINCE 

When  cotton  is  gathered  it  consists  of  both  fiber 
and  seed.  These  two  products  grow  together,  the 
fiber  out  of  the  seed,  and  remain  together  until  the 
gin  separates  them.  Up  to  this  point  the  combined 
products  are  known  as  seed  cotton.  From  the  gin, 
lint  or  fiber  (or  cotton  as  it  is  now  called),  leaves  in 
the  bale  to  be  returned  to  the  farm,  or  goes  direct  to 
the  market  for  immediate  sale. 

The  seed,  however,  are  still  the  property  of  the 
farmer,  and  may  be  carried  back  to  the  farm, 
where  they  are  valuable  for  feed  or  fertilizer,  or  they 
may  be  sold  to  the  oil  mill.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
about  one-third  of  the  cotton  seed  supply  is  now 
sold  to  the  oil  mill,  to  be  converted  into  oil,  meal 
and  hulls,  and  the  remaining  two-thirds  are  car- 
ried back  to  the  farm  for  feed,  fertilizer,  and  a 
smaller  quantity  for  seed  for  the  next  year's  crop. 

At  one  time  cotton  seed  were  altogether  wasted : 
manurial  value  was  not  considered ;  and  as  a  feed  they 
had  never  a  thought.  In  many  places  in  the  old 
days  cotton  gins  were  purposely  built  on  streams  in 
order  that  the  water  might  carry  away  the  great  ac- 
cumulations of  supposedly  worthless  seed;  and  in 


276  COTTON 

some  States  laws  were  passed  requiring  ginners  to 
clear  away  the  seed,  the  rotting  piles  otherwise  be- 
coming offensive  to  the  neighbors ! 

Now,  however,  the  value  of  this  part  of  the  crop 
has  assumed  enormous  proportions,  and  offers  a 
revenue  to  the  Southern  farmer  not  inconsiderable, 
even  when  compared  with  the  value  of  cotton  lint 
itself. 

Seed  cotton  contains  about  one-third  lint  and 
two-thirds  seed.  The  crop  of  1905  of  10,697,013 
bales  of  cotton  would  mean  about  5,850,000  tons 
of  seed.  This  valued  at  $16.00  per  ton,  a  reasonable 
estimate,  gives  us  a  commercial  value  of  $88,600,000 
in  the  raw  state,  while  this  value  of  course  is  greatly 
increased  in  the  finished  product. 

And  to  think  that  this  product  as  we  have  just 
said  once  rotted  at  the  gin  or  was  washed  away  in 
creeks  and  rivers — forever  lost  to  the  soil  and  to  the 
world ! 

WHAT    IS    IN    A    TON    OF    SEED  COTTON 

Only  an  estimate  can  be  made,  since  the  pro- 
portion of  lint  to  seed  varies  with  different  varieties 
and  different  soils ;  but  taking  the  general  rule  that 
*' cotton  thirds  itself,"  in  one  ton  of  seed  cotton 
there  should  be  665  pounds  of  lint  and  1335  pounds 
of  seed.  This  seed  would  yield  when  prepared 
and  manufactured  about  489  pounds  of  meal,  18 
pounds  of  linters,  187  pounds  of  oil,  561  pounds  of 
hulls,  and  80  pounds  of  waste  material  such  as 
water,  dust,  and  sand. 

With  the  exception  of  the  waste,  all  of  these  are 
commercial  commodities,  and  to-day  find  markets 
wherever  fertilizers  are  used,  live  stock  are  grown, 
or  civilized  people  are  known. 


COITON  SEED  HULLEH. 

The  hulls  are  used  for  cattle  food,  the  oil  extracted  from  the  meats,  and  the 
meal  kept  for  feeding  and  fertilizing.  "If  cotton  made  no  lint,  the  seoil  alone  wo\ild 
justify  its  culture." 


COTTON  277 

WHAT  A    TON     OF    SEED    CONTAINS 

Clearly  to  understand  the  value  of  cotton  seed, 
we  must  consider  the  products  made  from  them  and 
the  forms  available  for  market  use.  These  factors 
are  obtained  from  the  actual  results  of  the  oil  mill. 
When  treated  for  manufacture  we  get  the  following: 

COTTON  SEED 2000  POUNDS 

(A.)     Linters — 27  pounds. 
(B.)     Hulls— 841  pounds. 

(1.)     Bran— Feeding  Stuffs. 
(2.)     Fiber — High  Grade  Paper. 
(3.)     Fuel — Ashes  and  Fertilizer. 
(C.)     Meats— 1012  pounds. 
a.)     Cake— 732  pounds. 
(a.)     Meal. 

(1.)     Feeding  Stuff. 
(2.)     Fertilizer. 
(2.)     Crude  oil— 280  pounds. 
(a.)     Soap  Stock — soaps. 
(6.)     Summer  Yellow. 
(1.)     Winter  Yellow. 
(2.)     Salad  oil. 
(3.)     Cotton  Lard. 
(4.)     Cottolene. 
(5.)     Miners'  oil. 
(6.)     Soap. 

THE    OIL    MILL     AND    THE    FARMER 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  farmer  may  either 
sell  his  seed  to  the  oil  mill  or  use  them  at  home. 
Certainly  they  can  be  profitably  used  on  the  farm. 
Cotton  seed  are  not  like  such  perishable  products  as 
fruits  or  vegetables, — which  must  be  sold  quickly 


278  COTTON 

leaving  the  farmer  to  take  such  prices  as  are  offered 
without  regard  to  the  cost  of  production.  In  this 
case  you  can  use  your  seed,  if  you  cannot  sell  them 
on  the  market  for  what  they  are  worth. 

The  fertilizing  value  is  one  measure  of  value  and 
a  governing  principle  in  estimating  the  worth  per 
bushel  or  the  basis  of  exchange  for  meal. 

Estimating  values  of  cotton  seed  and  cotton- 
seed meal  on  the  same  basis  as  the  cost  of  the  in- 
gredients in  regular  fertilizing  materials  used  on 
the  cottou  farm,  we  get  the  following: 

One   Ton  Cotton  Seed 

Ammonia,  75  lbs.  @  13.  5c    $10.13 

Phosphoric  Acid,  26  lbs.  @  5  cts 1.30 

Potash,  24  lbs.  (a),  5.5c     1.32 


Fertilizing   Value $12.75 

This  represents  the  actual  worth  of  the  potential 
plant  food  in  one  ton  of  seed.  Allowing  the  same 
values  for  cost  of  the  several  ingredients  in  cotton- 
seed meal  we  get  the  following : 

One   Ton  Cottonseed  Meal 

Ammonia,  150  lbs.  @  13.5c     $20.25 

Phosphoric  Acid,    56  lbs.  @  5c 2.80 

Potash,  35  lbs.  @  5.5c    1.95 

Fertilizing  Value $25.00 

Putting  this  in  form  of  a  proportion  we  have 

$25.00  :  $12.75  :  :  x  :  1. 

Or, 

Value  of  meal   :  value  seed  :  :  1.9   :  1. 

In  other  words,  cottonseed  meal  when  sold  for 


COTTON  279 

$25.00  a  ton  contains  just  about  twice  as  much 
fertilizing  value  as  cotton  seed.  On  a  basis  of  6Q 
bushels  of  seed  in  a  ton  the  value  per  bushel  of  seed 
is  twenty  cents.  This  price  makes  an  even  ex- 
change, without  allowing  the  farmer  anything  for 
hauling  seed  to  the  oil  mill.  When  you  sell  seed  for 
less  than  20  cents  per  bushel,  you  actually  give 
more  than  you  get  in  return.  It  follows  that  you 
should  always  receive  as  much  as  twenty-five  cents 
per  bushel  when  meal  sells  for  $25.00  per  ton. 

ON    BASIS    OF    EXCHANGE 

But  as  a  matter  of  fact  you  should  never  dispose 
of  your  seed  except  on  a  basis  of  exchange.  Your 
soil  cannot  stand  the  continual  drain  upon  it,  if  the 
seed  are  sold  and  nothing  is  put  back  to  restore  the 
fertility  they  draw  from  the  land.  All  seed  taken 
from  the  soil  by  the  growing  crop,  should  be  re- 
turned to  it  either  in  form  of  seed,  meal,  or  cattle 
manure.  Since  the  oil  in  the  seed  has  no  fertilizing 
value,  and  is  of  no  use  to  the  farmer,  he  can  ex- 
change this  oil  for  meal,  the  product  of  more 
especial  value  to  him.  But  on  what  basis  of  ex- 
change ?  As  we  have  mentioned  before,  for  fer- 
tilizing purposes  meal  is  slightly  less  than  twice 
as  valuable  as  seed ;  but  you  cannot  haul  your  seed 
to  the  oil  mill  and  then  haul  the  meal  to  your  home 
without  some  compensation.  This  compensation 
should  therefore  be  in  the  form  of  extra  meal.  Just 
what  that  amount  shall  be  will  depend  on  the  dis- 
tance, condition  of  roads,  and  the  composition  of 
meal.  In  a  general  way  it  may  be  said  that  you 
should  receive  at  least  1100  pounds  of  meal  in  ex- 
change for  a  ton  of  seed,  and  an  additional 
amount    to    compensate    you   for   your    trouble, 


280  COTTON 

labor,    and    expense,    incidental   to   making    the 
exchange. 

COTTON    HULLS 

From  each  ton  of  seed  about  800  or  900  pounds 
of  hulls  are  obtained.  These  hulls  are  used  for 
fuel  and  for  feed  for  live  stock.  The  increased 
demand  for  the  latter  purpose  practically  calls  now 
for  the  whole  output,  although  it  has  been  but  a 
few  years  since  practically  all  of  the  hulls  were 
burned.  Everywhere  through  the  South  cotton 
hulls  are  fed  to  cattle  and  mules,  and  in  many 
places  they  form  the  major  part  of  the  roughage 
factor  of  the  daily  ration.  Hulls  are  palatable,  and 
in  one  way  are  nutritious,  since  they  furnish 
nutrients  that  go  to  make  heat  and  fat.  Com- 
paratively speaking,  their  feeding  value  may  be 
ranked  as  being  about  half  that  of  ordinary  grass 
hay.  In  composition  they  are  almost  as  well- 
balanced  as  this  hay,  although  they  contain  but  a 
small  quantity  of  digestible  protein — the  muscle 
maker.  The  entire  oil  mill  output  of  this  product 
readily  finds  a  sale  at  from  $3.00  to  $6.00  per  ton. 

COTTON    SEED    MEAL 

In  every  ton  of  seed  there  are  about  732  pounds 
of  meal,  used  exclusively  for  fertilizing  and  feeding 
purposes.  Cottonseed  meal  is  the  most  concen- 
trated of  our  vegetable  feeding  stuffs.  It  is  ex- 
tremely rich  in  protein,  a  nutrient  of  especial  im- 
portance for  feeding  all  classes  of  farm  animals. 

As  a  feed  for  beef  and  dairy  cattle,  cottonseed 
meal  is  especially  popular.  Considering  the 
digestible  nutrients  it  contains,  it  is  the  cheapest 


COTTOISr  281 

feeding  stuff  on  the  market  today.  Sooner  or  later 
this  fact  will  be  appreciated  and  as  a  consequence 
its  commercial  value  will  advance  because  of  the 
increasing  demand  for  it  as  a  cattle  food.  This 
will  also  mean  a  saving  to  the  South,  for  if  the 
manure  is  properly  cared  for,  there  is  little  loss  of 
fertilizing  value  from  the  original  raw  material. 

A  PRACTICAL  QUESTION  IN  CONCLUSION 

Used  as  a  fertilizer  we  get  but  one  profit  from 
cottonseed  meal.  '^ 

Used  as  a  feed  and  the  manure  saved,  we  get  two 
profits. 

Which  shall  we  choose  ? 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

COTTON  OIL  :  THE  KING  FEEDS  AS  WELL  AS  CLOTHES 
HIS  SUBJECTS 

The  cotton  oil  mill  does  not  take  simply  the  seed 
and  grind  them,  putting  them  in  better  form  for 
fertilizing  and  feeding  purposes,  but  it  removes 
from  the  seed  the  property  that  for  these  purposes 
is  more  objectionable  than  serviceable.  For  oil 
in  the  seed,  for  feeding  to  live  stock,  is  unfavorable 
to  digestion,  especially  where  any  considerable 
quantity  is  used ;  in  no  sense  is  it  of  use  to  the  soil, 
nor  does  it  serve  as  a  source  of  food  or  show  itself 
of  any  use  to  the  plant.  Consequently  it  is  of 
advantage  to  the  farmer  to  have  the  oil  extracted 
from  his  seed — the  other  ingredients  being  returned 
to  him — simply  as  a  means  of  preparing  his  product 
for  use  and  leaving  out  of  consideration  the  thought 
that  he  is  reimbursed  for  his  time  and  labor. 

THE  RISE  OF  THE  OIL  MILL 

The  oil  mill  at  first  came  slowly  into  favor.  A 
good  many  decades  ago  attempts  were  made  to 
establish  mills;  for  vegetable  oils  have  long  been 
in  demand;  and  then,  too,  there  was  promise  of 
profits  in  the  business.  While  at  first  a  few  mills 
were  established  by  individuals  or  independent 
corporations,  the  cotton  oil  business  was  developed 
into  large  proportions  by  a  single  large  company. 
Naturally,  however,  the  success  of  this  company 

(282) 


COTTON  283 

brought  rival  companies  into  the  field,  and  to-day 
wherever  cotton  is  grown  there  are  mills  of  various 
sizes  converting  raw  seed  into  crude  oil,  meal  and 
hulls. 


THE    PROCESS    OF   MANUFACTURING 

Seed  are  gathered  wherever  obtainable  and  then 
delivered  at  the  oil  mill.  Arriving  here  they  are 
shoveled  into  a  basket  elevator  which  empties  into 
a  conveyor  in  the  top  of  the  building,  and  from 
thence  they  are  distributed  wherever  storage  room 
is  available.  Seed  are  now  screened  so  as  to  get 
rid  of  bolls  and  other  impurities,  sand,  dust,  etc. 

This  process  of  cleaning  is  the  first  step  in  the 
production  of  oil.  Now  seed  go  to  the  linters, 
where  the  short  fibres  are  removed;  and  from  here 
they  go  to  the  huller — a  contrivance  fitted  with 
sets  of  knives  that  cut  the  seed  into  many  small 
pieces.  The  heavier  part  of  the  seed,  the  meat, 
drops  out  and  goes  in  one  direction,  while  the  hulls 
are  carried  in  another.  This  operation  is  further 
perfected  by  having  all  of  the  droppings  pass 
through  sieves  or  screens  which  allow  the  meats  to 
go  through,  but  retain  the  greater  part  of  the  hulls. 
The  hulls  are  next  sent  to  places  where  they  may 
be  stored  away,  or  carried  to  the  press  for  baling. 
The  meat  now  passes  through  a  series  of  rollers 
intended  to  crush  the  particles  and  cells.  From 
here  it  goes  to  heaters  and  kettles,  and  is  cooked, 
the  time  of  this  cooking  varying  from  15  to  40 
minutes  according  to  the  judgment  of  the  cook,  and 
the  condition  of  the  seed. 

When  this  operation  has  been  completed  the 
meats  are  placed  in  a  hydraulic  press  where  the  oil 


284  COTTON 

is  pressed  out,  and  the  other  ingredients  moulded 
into  cakes. 

The  operation  now  required  to  complete  the 
work  consists  of  preparing  the  crude  oil  for  the 
refinery  and  the  cake  for  commerce.  For  con- 
sumption in  our  country  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
cake  is  ground,  putting  it  into  a  better  form  both 
for  feeding  and  fertilizing  purposes. 

THE     SIZE     OF     MILL 

The  cost  of  transportation  and  seed  storage  is 
one  disadvantage  in  the  process  of  manufacturing 
oil  and  meal.  But  this  difficulty  is  now  overcome 
by  the  multiplication  of  small  oil  mills, — local 
enterprises  springing  up  all  over  the  Cotton  Belt 
and  each  doing  the  work  of  its  own  community. 
And  (what  is  true  of  few  other  lines  of  manufac- 
turing) the  small  oil  mill  does  the  work  about  as 
efficiently  and  economically  as  the  large  one. 

The  small  mill  in  fact  has  a  peculiar  advantage 
in  that  it  has  the  interested  support  of  the  farmers 
of  the  neighborhood.  It  should  be  as  much  a  part 
of  the  community,  and  should  be  operated  in  the 
service  of  the  farmers  just  as  much  as  is  the  co- 
operative creamery  or  the  local  flour  mill  in  our 
Western  States.  The  community  mill  will  get  its 
seed  almost  entirely  from  the  neighborhood,  and 
meal  and  hulls  will,  or  should  be,  entirely  used  by 
the  farmers  of  the  community;  consequently  there 
is  no  freight  to  pay  on  seed  or  on  their  products. 

The  item  of  storage  is  of  considerable  conse- 
quence, since  a  chain  of  delivery  can  be  arranged 
that  will  keep  the  mill  at  work,  and  not  require 
large  quantities  of  seed  to  be  kept  on  hand  at  any 
time. 


COTTON  285 

The  small  mill  consumes  all  the  way  from  two  to 
five  thousand  tons  of  seed  each  season  and  may  use 
as  much  as  25  to  50  tons  each  day.  At  the  promi- 
nent railroad  centers  are  mills  of  larger  capacity — 
using  from  150  to  200  tons  of  seed  daily,  or  from 
twenty  to  fifty  thousand  tons  each  season.  These 
make  large  profits  since  seed  can  be  shipped  from 
any  distance  and  the  product  delivered  without 
great  expense  to  the  mill. 

As  a  commercial  enterprise,  this  is  all  very  well, 
but  the  seed  is  the  product  of  the  farm,  and  should 
be  consumed  on  the  farm ;  there  is  no  other  system 
that  is  not  actual  land-robbing.  Consequently, 
from  its  nature  the  oil  mill  is  still  a  local  factor,  a 
community  factor,  and  a  farm  factor,  and  is  just  as 
important  in  the  disposition  of  this  part  of  the 
cotton  crop  as  is  the  shredding  machine  or  the 
threshing  machine  for  the  diposition  of  the  corn 
or  wheat  crop,  the  only  difference  being  that 
the  mill  is  stationary  and  we  carry  the  seed  to  it, 
while  shredding  and  threshing  machines  go 
through  the  community  and  work  on  each  in- 
dividual farm. 

With  this  idea  accepted,  it  clearly  follows  that 
the  cotton  oil  mill  is  indispensably  connected  with 
the  community,  and  sooner  or  later  the  local  co- 
operative enterprise  must  become  the  rule  wher- 
ever cotton  is  grown. 

CRUDE   OIL 

The  operations  of  the  oil  mill  have  to  do  with  the 
production  of  cake  and  hulls  on  one  hand,  and  with 
the  production  of  oil  on  the  other.  We  may  say 
that  the  mill  itself  came  as  a  means  of  securing  oil 
from  the  seed,  and  that  meal  and  hulls  are  a  by- 


286  COTTON 

product  of  this  manufacture  rather  than  primary 
objects.  But  so  valuable  have  these  two  commod- 
ities become  that  their  importance  is  now  even 
greater  than  that  of  the  oil  itself. 

Oil  as  it  leaves  the  press  is  known  as  crude  oil, 
and  has  not  a  great  many  uses  until  it  passes  through 
the  refinery  for  the  completion  of  the  manufac- 
turing process.  While  we  can  have  a  number  of 
oil  mills  and  while  these  may  be  small  in  size,  the 
refining  mill  is  so  complicated  as  to  be  very  expen- 
sive, diflScult  of  operation,  with  running  expenses 
further  heightened  because  costly  labor  must  be 
used.  But  we  do  not  need  so  many  refineries. 
The  great  bulk  of  the  raw  seed  necessitates  a  large 
number  of  oil  mills,  not  only  because  of  money 
saved  in  freight,  but  because  of  the  fact  that  with 
many  local  mills  the  farmers  can  readily  dispose  of 
their  seed  or  secure  meal  in  exchange,  for  them. 

Oil,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  very  concentrated 
product.  From  a  ton  of  seed  something  like  forty 
gallons  of  oil  are  obtained.  It  readily  follows  that 
the  oil  contained  in  a  great  number  of  tons  of  cotton 
seed  can  be  transported  in  the  same  bulk  space  as  is 
required  for  one  ton  of  raw  seed. 

So  from  all  directions  in  the  State  crude  oil  may 
go  to  some  one  or  more  central  points  to  be  refined, 
and  from  these  points  distributed  for  manufacture 
into  commercial  products. 

In  the  process  of  getting  oil  in  its  crude  form  two 
products  result:  crude  oil  proper,  and  the  settlings 
or  *' foots"  as  they  are  called.  The  first  named 
product  is  drawn  off  and  goes  to  the  refining  tank, 
from  whence  it  is  barreled  for  shipment.  The 
settlings  usually  go  back  to  heater  tanks  and  are 
either  pressed  again  or  barreled  and  shipped  as 
soap  stock. 


COTTON  287 

OIL  IN  THE   REFINING  TANK 

Crude  oil  when  taken  from  the  settling  tanks 
may  be  either  shipped  direct  to  refineries,  or  if,  as 
is  often  the  case,  a  refinery  is  located  in  connection 
with  the  oil  mill,  it  may  be  refined  at  once. 

In  the  refining  process  oil  is  heated  gently, 
stirred  constantly,  and  treated  freely  with  air  which 
enters  through  a  perforated  pipe  at  bottom.  Im- 
purities are  still  present  in  the  crude  oil,  and  these 
are  partially  gotten  rid  of  through  the  free  use  of 
caustic  soda  or  potash;  this  coagulates  them, 
causing  them  to  collect  and  fall  to  the  bottom  of 
the  tank.  The  next  step  is  to  draw  off  the  oil  and 
make  the  final  preparation  for  its  shipment.  Be- 
fore it  can  go,  however,  it  must  be  washed  with 
water  in  order  that  the  potash  may  be  dissolved 
and  removed.  Since  oil  is  lighter  than  water, 
separation  gradually  takes  place  in  the  mixture  and 
the  oil  slowly  rises  to  the  top  where  it  is  carefully 
drawn  off,  at  last  to  be  filtered  and  put  into  barrels. 

WHAT    IS    MADE    FROM   THE    OIL 

Refined  oil  is  known  as  "summer  yellow"  and  of 
course,  is  of  a  higher  commercial  value  than  the 
crude  oil.  Prime  summer  yellow  is  known  as 
butter  oil,  and  is  largely  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
oleomargarine,  butterine  and  even  as  an  adulterant 
for  butter  itself. 

The  highest  grade  of  summer  yellow  is  often 
subjected  to  cold  pressure,  which  gives  a  product 
known  as  salad  oil  for  cooking,  dressing,  and  other 
household  products.  Then,  too,  large  quantities 
of  summer  yellow  have  for  a  long  time  found  their 
way  into  Italy  where  it  is  treated,  to  be  sent  later  to 


288  COTTON 

all  the  world  as  olive  oil.  The  greater  part  of 
our  so-called  olive  oil  now  used  in  this  country 
bears  absolutely  no  relation  to  the  olive  tree,  but 
is  simply  high  grade  summer  yellow  especially 
treated,  and  labeled  as  genuine  olive  oil. 

Summer  yellow  is  also  treated  with  bleaching 
powder,  which  removes  the  yellow  color,  and  it  is 
then  used  in  the  manufacture  of  compound  lard 
and  like  materials.  So  popular  has  it  become  in 
this  form,  that  it  is  now  manufactured  under  its 
own  name  or  as  cottolene. 

Winter  white  oil  is  the  same  product  but  cold 
pressed.  It  is  used  in  many  ways  from  the  manu- 
facture of  medicinal  compounds  to  oil  for  the 
miner's  lamp. 

In  numerous  other  ways  does  this  refined  cotton 
oil  product  supply  the  wants  of  man;  and  it  seems 
likely  that  we  have  only  just  begun  to  appreciate 
its  value  and  that  in  future  we  shall  have  use  for 
greater  quantities,  much  of  the  product  to  be  used 
in  directions  not  yet  even  dreamed  of. 

ITS  USE   IN  ADULTERATING   INEXCUSABLE 

Cottonseed  oil  has  its  own  work  to  do,  its  own 
place  to  fill.  Its  value  is  too  great,  too  important, 
too  manifest,  for  us  to  wish  to  see  it  fraudulently 
used.  There  is  no  line  of  argument  to  justify  the 
sending  of  cotton  oil  or  any  of  its  manufactured 
products  into  the  world  under  false  names  save  to 
ask  praise  and  reward  intended  for  something 
else — losing  withal  the  renown  and  the  reward  that 
its  own  merits  justify. 

This  adulterating  practice  has  been  carried 
entirely  too  far.  Cottonseed  oil  may  make  as  good 
salad  dressing  as  olive  oil,  but  it  should  be  sold 


COTTON  289 

under  its  own  name  and  not  as  olive  oil ;  it  may  be 
made  into  good  "butter"  but  since  the  cow  has  a 
copyright  on  that  name,  no  other  product  has 
either  a  commercial  or  moral  right  to  use  it ;  it  may 
be  as  good  as  hog  lard,  but  it  has  no  right  to  the 
name  of  either  hog  or  lard. 

So  this  masquerading  under  names  of  old  estab- 
lished products  has  brought  cotton  oil  into  more 
disrepute  than  all  its  deficiencies  have  ever  done ; 
or  to  put  it  more  vividly,  cotton  oil,  with  its  good 
qualities  masquerading  under  false  names,  its 
less  useful  forrus  appearing  under  its  own  name, 
has  thereby  surrendered  to  other  products  much  of 
the  praise  its  merits  deserve  and  has  kept  for 
itself  all  the  blame  of    its  shortcomings. 

Cotton  oil  has  merits  enough  of  its  own  to  stand 
on  its  own  bottom  and  to  fight  its  own  battles.  As 
soon  as  those  responsible  for  its  evil  ways  realize 
this,  the  better  it  will  be  for  the  commodity. 

THE    SIZE    OF    THE     INDUSTRY 

Estimating  the  1905  cotton  crop  at  10,697,013 
bales  of  lint  the  production  of  seed  would  be  nearly 
or  quite  five  million  three  hundred  and  fifty  thous- 
and tons.  On  the  supposition  (and  this  is  the 
evidence  of  the  past)  that  two-thirds  of  these  will 
go  back  to  the  farm,  the  other  third  used  at  the  oil 
mill,  we  have  nearly  one  million  seven  hundred  and 
eighty-five  thousand  tons  for  the  mills.  On  the 
basis  of  forty  gallons  of  oil  in  each  ton  we  will 
have  the  enormous  production  of  more  than 
seventy-one  million  gallons  of  oil  from  our  1905 
cotton  crop.  This,  when  sold  in  crude  form  at 
twenty  cents  per  gallon  brings  to  the  mills  of  the 
South  fourteen  million  two  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  dollars  for  oil  alone. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

MEAL    AND    HULLS:    KING    COTTON   ALSO    FEEDS 
OUR    FLOCKS   AND  HERDS 

The  correct  solution  of  the  cotton  seed  question 
is  the  use  of  the  cotton  oil  mill,  whether  privately 
installed  or  by  co-operative  endeavor,  for  every 
community.  To  this  mill  all  seed  should  be 
brought  except  what  is  saved  for  the  next  year's 
crop,  that  the  oil — otherwise  useless  and  wasted — 
may  be  extracted  and  put  on  the  market  as  a  com- 
mercial product;  the  by-products — meal  and 
seed — should  then  be  returned  to  the  farms  from 
which  they  were  taken.  On  each  farm  then  there 
will  be  the  equivalent  of  the  seed,  but  now  in  the 
form  of  meal  and  hulls,  to  take  the  place  of  the 
fertility  withdrawn  from  the  soil  by  the  cotton 
crop. 

The  meal  and  hulls  should  not  be  returned  to 
the  soil  in  their  organized  and  original  condition, 
however,  but  first  fed  to  live  stock,  so  as  to  secure 
the  finished  product-making  begun  with  the  fac- 
tory, further  extended  to  the  oil  mill,  and  now 
completed  on  the  factory-farm.  For  the  farm  is 
a  factory :  and  factory-farming  should  be  your  plan 
of  operating. 

HOW  THE  PLANT  WORKS 

The  cotton  plant,  you  know,  feeds  from  soil  and 


COTTON  291 

air.  It  lives  on  disorganized  materials.  While  it 
enjoys  a  ration  in  which  cottonseed  meal  forms  a 
part,  yet  it  does  not  use  this  material  before  nature 
has  rotted  or  decomposed  its  component  parts. 
The  same  amount  of  effort  that  nature  uses  in  doing 
this  work,  live  stock  may  give,  and  to  their  profit. 
In  other  words,  what  is  food  for  the  plant  is  not 
food  for  the  animal;  what  is  food  for  the  animal 
is  not  food  for  the  plant.  In  other  words,  just  as 
the  oil  mill  takes  the  oil  from  the  seed,  and  yet 
turns  back  to  the  farmer  all  the  elements  of  the 
seed  that  he  can  utilize,  so  the  animal  takes 
from  the  seed  certain  properties  useful  to  it,  and 
yet  returns  to  the  soil  practically  all  the  matter 
the  soil  could  utilize  for  its  enrichment.  Meal  is 
food  for  the  animal  but  not  food  for  the  plant, 
until  nature  does  to  it  precisely  what  the  animal 
does  to  it.  This  is  to  decompose  it.  The  animal 
is  benefited  because  it  grows  and  becomes  fat  in 
breaking  up  the  organized  forms  of  meal  and  fat. 
When  the  animal  gets  through  with  its  work,  it 
returns  the  fertilizing  elements  to  the  soil  in  the 
form  of  liquid  and  solid  excrement. 

THE    FACTORY    FARM 

The  cattle  industry  should  be  a  part  of  cotton 
farming;  not  simply  to  raise  feeding  stuffs  on  the 
farm,  but  to  change  these  from  the  raw  state  into 
finished  forms.  That  is  what  any  factory  does: 
the  cotton  factory,  for  example,  takes  raw  cotton 
and  makes  it  into  finished  products.  On  the  factory- 
farm  the  cotton  farmer  will  take  his  meal,  hulls, 
grasses,  corn  stover  and  hays,  and  manufacture 
them  into  such  finished  products  as  milk,  butter, 
cheese  and  beef.     For  we  lose  one  of  the  import- 


292  COTTON 

ant  values  of  our  meal  when  it  is  used  simply  as 
a  fertilizing  stuff:  we  lose  the  tissue  form  that 
plants  in  their  growing  made. 

Now,  we  use  our  meal  largely  as  a  fertilizing 
material.  We  estimate  that  value  at  $25 .  00  per 
ton.  But  the  dairy  farmer  and  the  beef  farmer 
find  cottonseed  meal  an  invaluable  food  at  that 
price.  Hence  it  must  have  both  a  feeding  and  a 
fertilizing  value. 

Let  us  see :  does  butter  or  milk  or  cheese  or  beef 
use  the  fertilizing  material  of  the  meal.?  Surely 
not,  for  in  a  whole  ton  of  butter,  but  48  cents  of 
fertility  is  found.  In  a  ton  of  milk  but  $2.80 
of  fertility  is  found.  Does  it  go  in  the  dairy  stock  ? 
Of  course  not,  else  these  dairy  animals  today 
would  be  as  large  as  houses  or  barns.  The 
material  they  used  found  its  way  back  again 
to  the  soil.  First  it  went  into  the  feed  lot,  and  the 
barn-yard,  or  wherever  excrement  dropped.  But 
if  not  wasted  it  is  in  the  land.  Experiments  show 
that  after  allowing  for  various  quantities  used  by 
the  animal  products,  such  as  butter,  milk,  beef  and 
the  like,  and  legitimate  wastes  that  naturally  fol- 
low the  management  of  cattle,  fully  three-fourths 
of  the  original  fertility  may  be  saved  and  returned 
to  the  soil. 

THE  DOUBLE  VALUE  OF  MEAL  AND  HULLS 

We  therefore  have  two  values:  one  for  feeding, 
and  one  for  fertilizing.  This  may  be  expressed 
as  follows: 

Value  as  a  feeding  stuff $25 .  00 

Value    as   a  fertilizer 18.75 

Total  value $43 .  75 


COTTON  293 

When  cottonseed  meal  is  used  simply  as  a  fertil- 
izer, therefore,  there  is  a  loss  of  $18.75  on  every 
ton  thus  utilized — $18,75  a  ton  actually  thrown 
away  by  the  cotton  farmer  who  is  not  thrifty 
enough  to  raise  stock  and  to  get  all  the  profits  from 
his  seed.  There  is  no  proposition  less  open  to 
argument  than  that  on  every  farm  on  which  meal 
is  used  as  a  fertilizer,  we  should  first  feed  that  meal 
to  cattle  so  as  to  secure  the  double  value. 

And  then  also  bear  in  mind  that  our  cotton  lands 
need  animal  manures,  more  than  fertilizers,  for 
whenever  and  wherever  used,  stable  manures  show 
a  greater  efiiciency  than  their  actual  nitrogen, 
phosphorus,  and  potassium  content  would  indicate. 
This  is  because  they  supply  humus  so  much  needed 
by  all  our  lands,  sick  as  they  are  from  the  one- 
crop  system. 

Much  of  the  meal  now  produced  in  the  South 
finds  its  way  to  the  dairy  farms  of  Germany, 
England  and  the  northern  and  western  parts  of 
our  own  country. 

Rich  in  protein,  which  is  the  basis  of  milk  pro- 
duction, meal  is  naturally  winning  much  favor  as 
a  dairy  ration.  A  dairy  cow  with  a  capacity  of 
three  gallons  of  milk  daily,  requires  two  and  one- 
half  pounds  of  digestible  protein.  She  can  get 
this  only  from  the  protein  of  the  food  she  con- 
sumes. Oil  or  starch  or  fiber  will  not  make  pro- 
tein. You  cannot  convert  lead  into  gold  by  any 
process,  nor  can  you  take  foods  like  timothy  hay, 
orchard  grass,  corn  stover,  corn  and  like  products, 
and  make  them  furnish  protein  for  the  milk  ration. 
Cottonseed  meal  stands  foremost  of  all  vegetable 
feeding  stuffs  in  the  quantity  of  digestible  protein  it 
contains.  It  follows  then,  that  the  cotton  farmer, 
since  he  produces  meal  and  since  he  produces  the 


294  COTTON 

most  valuable  dairy  food,  should  combine  dairy- 
farming  with  cotton  farming.  In  this  way  double 
profits  may  be  made  and  cotton  lands  may  be  im- 
proved. 

EFFECT   OF    COTTONSEED    MEAL   ON    BUTTER 

When  meal  is  fed  as  a  part  or  as  the  whole  of 
the  concentrate  of  a  dairy  ration,  it  raises  the 
melting  point  of  butter.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  cot- 
tonseed meal  makes  a  harder  butter  than  any 
other  feed.  A  number  of  tests  have  been  made, 
and  the  value  of  cottonseed  meal  as  a  superior 
butter-producing  food  is  proved  beyond  all  doubt. 
When  jPed  in  combination  with  hulls  with  no  other 
feeding  stuffs,  a  relatively  inferior  butter  is  pro- 
duced, but  when  combined  with  such  materials 
as  corn  ensilage,  corn  stover,  and  cowpea  hay, 
no  better  butter  can  be  made  by  any  feeding  ration 
in  the  world. 

THE  VALUE  OF  MEAL  AS  A   DAIRY  FOOD 

It  is  not  stating  the  case  too  strongly  to  say 
that  as  a  food  for  dairy  cows  cottonseed  meal  is 
superior  to  all  others.  When  compared  with 
wheat  bran,  the  importance  and  value  of  which  is 
known  wherever  butter  is  made,  cottonseed  meal 
increases  the  quantity  of  milk  one-fifth.  When 
compared  with  corn  meal,  the  milk  production  is 
greatly  increased.  This  is  evidence  enough  to 
show  that  the  value  of  cottonseed  meal  as  a  dairy 
food  is  not  yet  generally  appreciated,  and  that  for 
years  to  come,  constantly  increasing  quantities 
will  be  used  by  wide-awake  dairymen. 

MEAL    AND    HULLS    FOR    BEEF    PRODUCTION 

Already  the  beef  industry  is  assuming  consid- 


COTTON  295 

erable  proportions  in  the  Cotton  States,  but  when 
its  present  condition  is  compared  with  its  real 
possibilities,  what  we  have  already  done  is  quite 
inconsiderable  indeed.  Meal  and  hulls  make  up 
the  bulk  of  the  required  fattening  ration.  To 
combine  these  two  feeding  stuffs,  put  them  about 
in  proportion  of  one  pound  of  meal  to  four  of 
hulls.  As  soon  as  the  taste  is  acquired,  both  feeds 
are  eaten  with  eagerness  and  with  relish. 

But  best  results  are  not  obtained  by  this  sort  of 
feeding.  Cattle,  like  ourselves,  enjoy  and  profit 
by  variety  in  food.  Meal  and  hulls  should  be 
combined  with  other  feeding  materials  such  as 
ensilage,  corn  stover,  cowpeas,  hay,  etc. 

We  cannot  go  far  in  this  study  of  the  feeding 
value  of  cotton  by-products  without  accepting  the 
indisputable  proposition  that  the  South  will  never 
make  the  money  from  its  great  staple  that  it  ought 
to  make  until  we  find  on  every  farm  feeding  steers 
and  other  cattle  to  utilize  the  meal  and  hulls  that 
we  bring  from  the  oil  mill  in  exchange  for  our  seed. 


EFFECT  OF  COTTONSEED  MEAL  ON  STEER  FAT 

Tests  have  been  made  in  which  cottonseed  meal 
has  been  compared  with  corn  and  which  show  that 
meal  produces  a  fat  having  a  higher  melting  point 
than  that  of  corn -fed  steers.  The  evidence  of 
butchers  and  packers  is  in  favor  of  cottonseed- 
meal-fed  cattle. 

The  best  quality  of  beef  and  beef  fat,  however, 
is  produced  when  the  animals  get  the  meal  in  con- 
nection with  other  concentrates  and  roughage 
materials. 


296  COTTON 

EASE  OF  FATTENING  BEEVES  WITH  COTTONSEED 
MEAL 

Beef  that  meets  the  ideal  for  the  plate  must  con- 
tain lean  meat  as  well  as  fat.  To  give  the  highest 
satisfaction  it  must  be  marbled — ^have  both  lean 
and  fat.  Lean  meat  comes  from  the  protein  of  the 
food,  fat  from  the  fat  and  carbohydrates  of  the 
food.  This  being  the  case,  cottonseed  meal  and 
hulls  possess  the  three  materials  for  making  beef 
possessing  these  two  qualities.  It  is  impossible 
to  make  better  beef  than  when  the  cattle  are  given 
meal  and  hulls  combined  with  corn  ensilage  or 
corn  stover. 

HOW     CORN     AND     MEAL   COMPARE     AS    FATTENING 
FOODS 

In  the  popular  mind  corn  represents  the  highest 
ideal  as  a  grain  and  fattening  food.  On  many 
farms  meal  is  exchanged  for  Western  corn,  the 
owner  thinking  the  latter  a  superior  food,  in  fact 
regarding  it  as  indispensable  for  live  stock  of  any 
kind ;  and  so  he  disposes  of  his  home  grown  prod- 
ucts rich  in  digestible  nutrients  and  high  in  fer- 
tilizing materials,  buys  corn  in  exchange  (with 
freight  charges  and  dealer's  profits  added)  corn 
being  indeed  a  food  of  high  quality  for  fattening 
purposes,  but  very  low  indeed  in  fertilizing  value. 

What  are  the  facts  on  this  point  as  revealed  by 
feeding  tests  ? 

In  Station  tests,  one  pound  of  cottonseed  has  been 
found  to  equal  in  feeding  value — beef  producing 
value — 1.13  pounds  of  corn  meal;  in  other  words, 
for  feeding  beef  cattle  preparatory  to  the  market, 
cottonseed  is  superior  to  corn  meal. 


COTTON  297 

When  cottonseed  meal  was  compared  with  corn 
meal,  pound  for  pound,  it  was  proved  conclusively 
that  1.73  pounds  of  corn  meal  were  required  to 
produce  the  same  weight  of  beef  as  one  pound  of 
cottonseed  meal  produced. 

This  shows  that  in  beef  production  one  ton  of 
cottonseed  meal  is  equal  to  1 .73  tons  of  corn  meal. 
Hence  for  feeding  purposes,  when  corn  is  worth 
fifty  cents  per  bushel  or  $18 .  00  per  ton,  cottonseed 
meal  is  worth  $30 .  80  in  beef  production. 

Can  the  cotton  farmer  longer  neglect  the  cattle 
industry,  when  he  has  in  his  own  hand  the  feed 
which  is  most  efficient  and  at  the  same  time  the 
least  expensive  and  which  possesses  the  richest 
manurial  effects  ? 

Cattle  raising  should  go  hand  in  hand  with  cotton 
culture.  When  so  combined,  they  afford  an  ideal 
system  of  agriculture  and  more  completely  blend 
in  promoting  both  profits  and  the  maintenance  of 
fertility  than  any  other  sort  of  land  and  animal 
management.  We  cannot  too  often  emphasize  the 
fact  that  the  opportunity  of  the  South  lies  in  this 
direction. 

Will  you  take  it  up  or  permit  it  to  pass  by,  as  you 
have  been  doing  heretofore  ? 

Let  the  idea  prevail  all  the  time  that  fertilizers 
can  be  purchased  best  in  the  form  of  cattle  foods; 
take  a  dollar  and  buy  concentrates  like  meal  and 
hulls,  and  first  feed  these,  using  the  voidings  and 
waste  for  the  manurial  effect  on  the  land.  You 
must  not  get  away  from  this  fundamental  fact  that 
the  meal  and  hulls  contain  two  values — one  for 
feeding  and  one  for  fertilizing — and  that  in  using 
them  as  a  fertilizer  alone,  you  are  deliberately 
throwing  away  one  profit — $18 .  75  for  every  ton  of 
the  meal. 


298  COTTON 

MEAL  AND   HULLS  FOR    HORSES  AND  MULES 

Horses  and  mules  may  be  fed  moderate  quantities 
of  meal  and  hulls  with  great  advantage.  No 
danger  attaches  to  the  use  of  hulls,  but  meal  has 
always  been  fed  rather  sparingly.  In  recent  years 
many  experiments  have  been  conducted  which  show 
that  meal  can  form  a  part  of  the  grain  ration  both 
profitably  and  satisfactorily.  From  two  to  four 
pounds  may  be  used  daily,  although  it  is  best  not  to 
make  it  a  constant  and  regular  diet. 

COTTONSEED   MEAL  FOR  CALVES  AND   PIGS 

For  reasons  unknown  meal  seems  not  to  be  a  de- 
sirable feeding  stuff  for  calves  and  pigs.  For  a  few 
weeks  meal  may  be  fed  with  impunity,  but  there 
soon  comes  a  time  when  bad  results  follow — some- 
times death. 

WE  NEED  MORE  LIVE  STOCK 

While  there  is  profit  today  in  the  razor-back  hog, 
the  long-legged,  thin  back,  scrub  steer,  and  the  light 
carcassed  wether,  we  need  more  animals  and 
better  animals. 

The  by-products  of  our  oil  mills  are  not  fully 
consumed :  we  need  more  cattle  and  sheep  to  utilize 
these  materials.  Of  course,  meal  and  hulls  are  no 
longer  wasted;  if  the  Cotton  Belt  is  unable  to  utilize 
the  product,  the  rest  of  the  world  is  eager  to  secure 
it.  But  why  should  the  South  permit  this  ?  Its 
lands  suffer,  since  a  ton  of  its  meal  when  shipped 
away,  means  just  so  much  valuable  plant  food,  so 
much  actual  Cotton  Belt  soil-richness,  sent  else- 
where to  build  up  lands  in  some  other  State.     So 


COTTON  299 

long  as  butter  and  cheese  and  beef  come  to  the 
South  by  express  and  freight,  there  is  a  demand,  an 
opportunity,  for  the  production  of  these  commod- 
ities in  Southern  territory. 

Until  every  cotton  farm  possesses  foundation 
stock  for  cattle  and  sheep  and  swine  breeding, 
there  are  too  few  animals;  until  enough  are  raised 
to  supply  local  markets,  and  to  consume  locally 
raised  feeds,  the  live  stock  supply  is  short — and  the 
cotton  farmer  fails  to  realize  his  opportunity  for 
wealth  and  prosperity. 

WE    NEED    BETTER   GRADES    OF   STOCK 

It  is  sadly  true  that  the  live  stock  of  the  Cotton 
Belt  is  extremely  inferior.  The  average  cow 
produces  but  2,000  pounds  of  milk  annually;  the 
average  steer  matures  in  four  or  five  years,  and  then 
only  with  a  weight  of  800  or  900  pounds. 

Is  growing  this  kind  of  stock  economy.? 

Do  you  cultivate  your  corn  with  a  hoe  or  with  a 
cultivator.?  Do  you  harvest  your  wheat  with  a 
sickle  or  with  a  harvester  ?  Do  you  separate  seed 
by  hand  or  use  the  gin  ?  Do  you  even  travel  long 
distances  now  on  horse-back,  or  do  you  go  on  the 
steam  car.? 

Surely  not.  You  use  the  most  up-to-date  tools 
and  implements,  and  follow  modern  methods  in 
everything  but  your  live-stock  machines :  for  the  old 
scrub  cow  and  scrub  steer  are  simply  out-of-date 
machines. 

More  live  stock  then,  and  better,  that  the  South 
may  feed  its  own  meal,  to  make  its  own  butter,  its 
own  cheese,  its  own  milk,  its  own  meat:  to  get  not 
only  the  profit  of  growing  cotton  and  other  feeding 
stuffs,  but  a  profit  in  feeding  it  by  means  of  the 


800  COTTON 

manufactured  products  it  makes.  So  true  is  this 
it  requires  no  one  to  champion  the  reasonableness 
of  the  proposition;  rather  it  should  be  the  effort  of 
every  farmer,  whether  he  possesses  a  few  acres  or 
many,  to  try  to  grow  not  only  cotton,  not  only 
roughage  material  like  peas  and  corn  and  meal  and 
hulls,  but  live  stock  as  well,  that  the  by-products  of 
his  many  crops  may  combine  with  others  to  produce 
milk  and  meat  and  butter  and  cheese;  and  at  the 
same  time  produce  a  large  quantity  of  home-made 
manures  to  rejuvenate  and  to  build-up  cotton  lands. 
This  is  the  great  thought  in  the  true  philosohpy 
of  farming;  it  is  the  magic  key  that  unlocks  the 
door  to  successful  effort;  it  is  the  introduction  to  the 
throne  of  agricultural  prosperity,  and  the  beginning 
of  a  better  and  fuller  life  on  the  farm. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

THE   RISE    OF    COTTON    MANUFACTURING 

From  time  immemorial  cotton  has  been  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  textile  fabrics  for  man, 
furnishing  clothing  for  his  body  and  sundry  home 
comforts.  It  was  not  until  a  century  or  two  ago, 
however,  that  its  use  for  this  purpose  began  to 
assume  large  proportions.  Many  important  dis- 
coveries had  first  to  be  made;  many  great  inven- 
tions perfected,  before  cotton  could  be  manufac- 
tured so  as  to  supply  human  wants  at  a  cost  in 
labor  commensurate  with  the  value  of  the  fabric 
made. 

But  so  important  a  fiber,  with  such  tremendous 
opportunities  for  large  production,  was  not  long  to 
go  undeveloped  and  unused,  when  man,  reaching 
that  stage  in  civilization  where  he  should  have  need 
for  it,  adopted  it  as  a  rich  find;  pressed  it  into 
service  at  once ;  put  his  ever-ready  genius  to  master 
the  problems  of  its  production,  its  culture,  its 
manufacture,  until  the  day  should  come  when  to 
it,  more  than  to  all  other  fibers  combined,  attention 
and  skill  and  labor  should  be  given. 

THE   BEGINNINGS    OF    COTTON    MANUFACTURE 

The  first  factory  was  the  cottage  home.  Long 
before  the  coming  of  the  cotton  factory,  cotton  was 

(301) 


302  COTTON 

known  to  a  limited  extent  to  England  and  to  other 
countries  of  average  civilization.  Cotton  possessed 
value  as  a  textile  fabric.  And  that  these  advan- 
tages were  early  appreciated  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
since  it  was  readily  used  whenever  it  could  be 
obtained.  Naturally,  however,  there  could  be  no 
large  growth  so  long  as  the  supply  varied  constantly. 

We  must  understand,  however,  that  for  a  century 
or  more  cotton  had  been  used  in  a  limited  way  for 
the  weft  or  transverse  threads  of  the  web; the  warp, 
or  longitudinal  threads,  being  of  linen  yarn,  pro- 
duced mainly  in  Germany  and  Ireland.  Cotton 
factories  w^ere  of  course  unknown  in  those  days, 
weaving  being  largely  done  in  the  homes  of  the 
weavers.  This  cotton-linen  fabric  was,  during 
these  times,  made  in  these  cottage  homes,  and  later 
carried  to  the  market,  to  which  points  the  city 
merchants  came  and  made  their  purchases. 

Sometime  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century  we  find  the  beginning  of  a  new  era,  when 
merchants  began  to  send  agents  into  the  country  to 
develop  this  embryonic  but  isolated  factory  system. 
The  plan  as  introduced  and  carried  out,  secured 
linen  for  warp,  and  cotton  for  weft  as  had  been  used 
before;  but  now  the  merchants  (through  their 
agents)  provided  the  raw  materials,  and  hired  the 
weavers  to  do  the  work.  Before  this  time  the 
weavers  made  all  their  purchases  and  sold  their 
products  themselves.  Now  the  materials  were 
furnished  and  they  received  wages  for  their  labor. 
A  radical  change,  you  will  see,  had  been  inaugu- 
rated which  doubtless  worked  to  the  common 
advantage  of  both  parties. 

Up  to  this  time  cotton  had  been  spun  by  means 
of  the  common  spinning  wheel  in  the  weaver's 
own  house — the  same  spinning  wheel  whose  monot- 


COTTON  303 

onous  roar,  gloomy  and  melancholy  as  the  north 
wind  itself,  may  yet  be  heard  on  wintry  days  in 
many  a  humble  home  of  the  rural  South:  if  one 
cares  to  study  the  question  further,  let  him  read 
Thomas  Buchanan  Read's  famous  poem,  "The 
Closing  Scene. "  Of  course  the  work  of  this  hand 
spinning  wheel  was — and  is — slow  and  laborious, 
and  it  followed  naturally  that  the  product  should 
be  relatively  expensive,  and  the  wage  of  the  laborer 
small  indeed. 

THE  COMING  OF  IMPROVED  INVENTIONS 

The  inauguration  of  the  new  scheme  in  manu- 
facturing was  bound  to  work  to  its  advantage,  and 
hasten  its  development.  It  was  no  longer  an 
individual  concern.  It  now  became  a  community 
interest,  so  governed,  controlled  and  directed. 

Singular  indeed  is  it  that  just  at  this  critical 
period  a  number  of  improved  inventions  should  be 
made,  following  one  another  just  as  men  most 
needed  them,  and  covering  too,  such  widely  differ- 
ent fields  of  human  activity.  Even  the  schoolboy 
has  heard  of  the  epoch  making  spinning-jenny  of 
Hargreaves;  spinning-frame  of  Arkwright;  power 
loom  of  Cartwright;  Watt's  steam  engine  gind 
Whitney's   cotton  gin. 

First  the  spinning-jenny  came  in  1767,  enabling 
from  16  to  30  threads  to  be  spun  with  the  same 
facility  as  one  had  been  spun  previously  to  that 
time,  and  it  was  subsequently  brought  to  such 
perfection  that  a  little  girl  was  enabled  to  work 
from  80  to  100  spindles. 

While  this  invention  itself  marked  a  great 
advance,  it  did  not  go  far  enough,  since  the  jenny 
then  in  use  was  applicable  only  to  the  spinning  of 


304  COTTON 

cotton  for  weft  or  transverse  threads,  being  unable 
to  give  that  firmness  and  hardness  which  is  re- 
quired for  the  longitudinal  threads  or  warp. 

But  the  spinning-frame  came  a  few  years  later. 
A  really  wonderful  machine  this  was,  spinning  a 
large  number  of  threads  of  any  degree  of  fineness 
and  hardness,  calling  on  the  operator  simply  to  feed 
cotton  to  it,  and  to  tie  threads  that  broke  accident- 
ally. Up  to  this  time  the  hand  loom  was  required 
for  all  of  the  work  of  weaving.  That  meant,  of 
course,  long,  weary  days  for  many,  many  people. 
Now  something  better  was  in  store.  The  power 
loom  was  to  supersede  the  work  of  the  hand.  And 
next,  just  as  power  is  needed,  behold  it  also  comes! 
For  Watt  has  succeeded  with  his  steam  engine,  ready 
to  supply  the  manufacturer  with  a  new  power  appli- 
cable to  every  purpose,  easy  to  control,  and  read- 
ily placed  where  most  convenient,  and  right  in 
the  midst  of  an  industrious  people. 

But  what  are  these  inventions  without  cotton  ? 
Can  cotton  farming  and  manufacturing  become 
extensive  while  the  seed  must  be  separated  from 
lint  by  hand  ? 

It  has  been  said  that  "necessity  is  the  mother  of 
all  inventions."  Surely  if  cotton  goods  were  to  be 
manufactured,  it  was  necessary  that  cotton  be  pro- 
duced cheaply  and  that  it  be  easily  prepared  for 
manufacturing. 

And  so  finally  this  brilliant  series  of  practical  in- 
ventions is  completed  with  Whitney's  cotton  gin. 

Other  inventions  leading  to  the  improvement  of 
those  here  mentioned  or  blending  with  them  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  make  their  work  more  eflBcient, 
called  for  increased  quantities  of  raw  cotton 
which  could  now  be  supplied  economically  and  in 
quantities  sufficient  to  meet  the  world's  needs. 


COTTON  305 

Cotton  manufacturing  increased  in  England  as 
did  cotton  production  in  America,  and  both  so 
worked  together  that  the  cotton  industry  from  seed 
to  loom  assumed  large  proportions,  and  has  since 
continued  to  grow  with  every  passing  decade. 

PERFECTING   THE    INVENTIONS 

But  these  inventions  still  left  gaps  between 
cotton  in  its  raw  and  its  finished  state,  and  these 
difficulties  had  to  be  met  and  gradually  overcome. 

Of  the  inventions  having  direct  relation  to  the 
spinning-jenny  and  the  spinning-frame,  the  most 
important  was  that  of  the  mule.  Neither  one  of 
these  other  machines  was  complete  in  itself.  It 
was  left  for  Crompton  to  invent  the  machine  which 
should  retain  the  drawing  out  and  winding  features 
of  the  jenny,  and  that  should  have  at  the  same 
time  the  rollers  of  the  old  spinning-frame. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  new  invention  retained 
features  of  both  the  spinning-jenny  and  the  spin- 
ning-frame. It  was  in  this  sense  a  hybrid;  and 
later,  by  reason  of  this  fact,  it  was  given  the  name 
of  mule,  which  it  has  ever  since  retained. 

A  marvelous  machine  it  is,  called  by  whatever 
name,  and  it  is  in  every  sense  one  of  the  most 
wonderful  and  most  easily  operated  machines  that 
has  ever  been  constructed.  At  the  present  time 
spinning  mules  are  made  as  much  as  one  hundred 
and  twenty  feet  long,  some  having  1300  spindles 
which  spin  and  wind  64  inches  of  thread  in  15 
seconds;  and  only  a  couple  of  persons  are  needed 
to  attend  to  the  whole  machine.  The  extremely 
fine  yarns  that  are  now  made  are  the  product  of 
mule  spinning,  as  well  as  much  of  the  best  soft 
thread  used  in  manufacturing  hosiery  and  under- 
wear. 


806  COTTON 

In  looms,  improvements  have  also  been  made 
that  have  contributed  to  greater  ease  in  weaving. 
The  old  loom  necessitated  stopping  whenever  the 
yarn  in  the  shuttle  was  exhausted  and  until  a 
freshly  filled  shuttle  could  be  inserted.  Now  such 
improvements  have  come  that  the  shuttle  may  be 
filled  without  being  removed  and  without  replacing 
the  shuttle  itself,  in  either  case  without  stopping  the 
loom  at  all.  This  is  a  matter  of  considerable  con- 
sequence since  as  much  as  one-half  of  the  labor 
cost  of  converting  a  pound  of  cotton  into  woven 
cloth  is  in  weaving. 

WHAT  BECOMES  OF  YARN  ? 

Yarns  are  used  in  many  ways.  In  our  country 
spinning  and  weaving  are  usually  done  by  one  ana 
the  same  establishment.  But  in  Great  Britain 
and  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  the  spinning  and 
weaving  operations  are  almost  invariably  separate, 
and  as  a  rule  bear  no  relation  to  each  other. 

Throughout  the  cotton  manufacturing  world  a 
great  part  of  the  yarn  goes  at  once  into  plain  cotton 
cloth.  It  is  also  used  for  warp  in  woolen  and 
worsted  goods,  and  also  for  knitting  into  under- 
wear. Considerable  quantities  of  yarn  are  used 
for  this  purpose. 

For  sewing  thread  and  the  finest  grade  of  cotton 
thread  for  weaving,  Sea  Island  cotton  is  principally 
used  on  account  of  its  length, evenness  and  strength. 
After  it  has  been  spun  into  yarn  it  is  next  con- 
verted into  thread  by  doubling  and  twisting  until 
it  is  of  the  desired  thickness  and  strength. 

COTTON   MANUFACTURING   IN  AMERICA 

As  early  as  1787  records  show  that  Great  Brit- 
ain consumed  nearly  23,000,000  pounds  of  cotton. 


COTTON  307 

A  century  later  more  than  1,650,000,000  pounds 
were  consumed  in  making  cotton  goods,  these  hav- 
ing a  commercial  value  of  nearly  $400,000,000. 
For  1904-05  her  consumption  is  estimated  as 
1,794,000,000  pounds. 

But  while  England  early  became  noted  for  cotton 
manufacturing  and  has  always  led  in  cotton  con- 
sumption and  in  number  of  spindles  operated, 
America  has  had  no  small  part  in  this  wonderful 
development.  At  first  progress  was  made  slowly. 
Although  the  Southern  States  shared  largely  in 
starting  cotton  manufacturing,  the  first  factory 
being  in  South  Carolina,  the  Cotton  States  soon 
addressed  themselves  more  exclusively  to  cotton 
farming,  yielding  to  New  England  the  supremacy 
in  manufacturing  the  goods.  One  of  the  earliest 
manufacturing  plants  was  established  at  Slater- 
ville,  R.  I.,  and  as  early  as  1816  consumed  100,000 
bales  of  cotton,  turned  out  181,000,000  yards  of 
cloth,  employed  thousands  of  operatives,  and 
had  a  working  capital  of  many  millions  of  dollars. 

The  greatest  center  of  cotton  manufacture  has 
been  in  the  city  of  Fall  River,  Mass.  As  late  as 
1900  the  two  adjoining  counties  of  Bristol  in  Mass- 
achusetts (in  which  Fall  River  is  located)  and 
Providence  in  Rhode  Island  contained  about 
thirty  per  cent,  of  the  spindles  in  the  United  States. 

The  power  loom  was  first  put  in  use  in  mills  at 
Waltham,  Mass.,  from  which  place,  after  the  ex- 
periment had  been  found  successful,  it  went  in 
every  direction  where  cotton  manufacturing  had 
gone. 

SIZE    OF   THE    world's    INDUSTRY    IN    SPINDLES 

The  unit  of  production  in  the  cotton  industry  is 
the  spindle.     A  large  number  of  spindles  is  nee- 


308 


COTTON 


essary  in  any  mill,  as  the  quantity  of  thread  pro- 
duced per  spindle  is  small.  For  instance,  a  mill 
with  10,000  spindles  manufacturing  No.  20  yarn, 
will  produce  in  a  day  from  a  third  to  four-tenths  of 
a  pound  of  thread  per  spindle  or  from  3000  to  4000 
pounds  total  output.  Yarn  cannot  be  woven, 
cloth  cannot  be  manufactured,  until  spindles  first 
spin  the  lint  into  thread.  The  steady  increase  in 
number  of  spindles  throughout  the  world  is  set 
forth  in  the  following  table : 


Countries 

1861 

1875 

1890 

1900 

Great  Britain  .    . 
Continent  of  Eu- 
rope   

India 

United  States  .  . 

30,300,000 

10,000,000 

338,000 

5,000,000 

39,000,000 

19,400,000 
1,100,000 
9,500,000 

43,750,000 

24,575,000 
3,270,000 
14,190,000 

46,000,000 

33,000,000 
4,400,000 
19,475,000 

WORLD  S    CONSUMPTION    OF    COTTON 

The  average  consumption  of  cotton  throughout 
the  world  may  be  estimated  at  fifteen  million  bales 
annually.  The  leading  centers  of  cotton  manu- 
facture are  not  at  the  source  of  supply,  but 
are  thousands  of  miles  away,  where  population 
is  dense  and  labor  abundant,  trained  and  efficient. 

The  consumption  of  cotton  for  several  periods  of 
manufacturing  development  is  shown  in  the  table 
following : 


Country- 

1875 

1890 

1900 

Great  Britain 

Continent  of  Europe 

India.    .    ■ 

United  States 

1,500,000 
280,000 
290,000 
300,000 

3,384,000 

3,630,000 

920,000 

2,350,000 

3,269,000 
4,576,000 
1,000,000 
3,640,000 

COTTON  309 

For  last  year  (1904-05)  Messrs.  Latham,  Alex- 
ander &  Co.,  the  well  known  New  York  cotton 
authorities  estimate  the  consumption  of  the  several 
countries  as  follows : 

ESTIMATED  CONSUMPTION  1904-05 

Great   Britain  (500-pound  bales)  3,588,000  bales 
Continent   (500  pound  bales)  5,148,000  bales 

United  States  (500  pound  bales)    4,310,255  bales 
Of  light  weight  bales  (averaging  less 
than  500  pounds),  the  consump- 
tion of  other   countries  last  year 
was  as  follows : 

East    India 1,350,000  bales 

Japan 875,000  bales 

Canada 130,000  bales 

Mexico 70,000  bales 

Various . .  .  •  ■ 35,000  bales 

Total 15,506,255  bales 

EXTENT  OF    COTTON    INDUSTRY    IN  AMERICA 

Cotton  manufacturing  did  not  develop  rapidly 
in  the  United  States  until  the  latter  part  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  when  it  not  only  made  great  growth 
in  New  England,  but  assumed  enormous  pro- 
portions in  the  Southern  States,  the  seat  of  cotton 
production. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  industry  cotton  was 
carded  and  spun  by  machinery  but  weaving 
was  done  entirely  by  the  hand  loom.  This  was 
true  as  late  as  1815  when  the  first  power  loom 
was  installed,  and  it  was  a  long  time  after  that 


310 


COTTON 


before  the  hand  loom  became  an  inconsiderable 
factor  in  cotton  goods  making.  Especially  in 
rural  districts,  it  had  its  place,  along  with  the 
spinning  wheel,  in  nearly  every  well  regulated 
home. 

Cotton  manufacturing  in  the  United  States  has 
been  extended  gradually  in  all  directions,  increas- 
ing in  annual  output,  capital  and  labor  employed, 
until  it  has  become  one  of  the  great  industries  of  the 
land. 

This  development  is  seen  in  the  table  below : 


Item 

1830 

1860 

1890 

1900 

Number  of  mills . 
Number  of 

spindles  .  .  . 
Number  of  looms 
Consumption     of 

cotton  in  bales 
Persons  employed 
Capital  invested . 
Value  of  products 

801 

1,250,000 
33,400 

180,000 

62,200 

$40,610,000 

1,091 

5,235,000 
120,000 

845,000 

122,000 

$98,585,000 

115,680,000 

324,866 

14,200,000 
325,000 

1,195,000 

221,585 

$354,000,000 

267,000,000 

450,682 

19,000,000 
450,000 

3,640,000 

302,642 

$487,000,000 

339,000,000 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

THE  COTTON  FACTORY  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES 

"The  four  Southernmost  States  make  a  great 
deal  of  cotton.  Their  poor  are  almost  entirely 
clothed  in  it  in  winter  and  summer." 

So  wrote  Thomas  Jefferson  in  1786.  Without 
doubt  his  observation  was  first-hand  and  authentic. 
But  where  was  this  cotton  manufactured.^  In  a 
cotton  mill  somewhere.^  No,  that  cannot  be,  for 
no  cotton  mill  had  yet  been  built  on  American  soil. 
The  cotton  was  home  manufactured  from  lint,  the 
seed  having  first  been  hand-picked.  This  manu- 
facturing was  done  in  the  home,  for  the  home  use 
of  the  inhabitants  and  the  household.  With  the 
coming  of  the  cotton  gin,  not  only  did  the  pro- 
duction of  cotton  increase,  but  its  manufacture 
and  use  increased  as  well. 

Before  the  Civil  War  slave  women,  directed 
by  their  mistresses,  largely  clothed  the  plantation 
force  with  "homespun,"  as  it  was  called.  And  it 
may  be  noted  that  even  now,  in  spite  of  the  cheap- 
ness of  the  manufactured  product,  many  an  old- 
fashioned  country  woman  still  cards  her  cotton  into 
rolls,  spins  the  product  into  thread  on  the  spinning 
wheel,  and  with  laborious  shuttle  weaves  the 
thread  into  vari-colored  counterpanes  for  her 
beds,  into  "breeches  cloth"  for  her  good  man,  or 
into  underclothing  for  herself. 


312  COTTON 

OUR    FIRST    COTTON    MILL 

In  the  year  1787,  Mrs.  Ramage,  widow  of  a 
South  Carolina  planter,  realizing  its  greater  econ- 
omy and  so  anticipating  its  financial  success, 
erected  a  small  cotton  mill  on  James  Island,  near 
Charleston.  Small  in  size  and  operated  by  horse- 
power, this  was  the  first  cotton  factory  erected  on 
American  soil,  although  a  little  later  in  the  same 
year,  another  cotton  factory,  somewhat  larger  in 
capacity,  was  started  at  Beverly,  Massachusetts. 
Then,  years  later,  a  second  factory  was  built  at 
Statesburg.  Georgia  was  the  second  State  to  be- 
gin cotton  manufacturing,  but  it  was  not  until  1809 
that  a  small  factory  was  erected  at  Louisville,  this 
being  also  operated  by  horse-power.  Two  years 
later  a  much  larger  factory  was  built  in  Wilkes 
County,  this  one  known  as  the  "Bolton  Factory.'* 
This  building  "was  60  feet  by  40  feet,  two  stories, 
attic  and  basement,  and  was  constructed  of  brown 
sandstone."  It  was  the  first  factory  of  any  con- 
sequence in  Georgia. 

In  North  Carolina  no  factory  was  built  until  1818 
when  one  was  erected  in  Edgecombe  County, 
which  "began  operating  with  288  spindles,  em- 
ployed about  20  hands,  and  consumed  18,000 
pounds  of  cotton,  or  according  to  the  weights  of 
those  days,  about  64  bales." 

LITTLE  INTEREST    IN  COTTON  MANUFACTURING 

While  a  great  many  cotton  factories  sprang  up  in 
the  Southern  States  from  1800  to  1860,  the  South 
as  a  whole,  cannot  be  said  to  have  given  manufac- 
turing very  substantial  encouragement.  Rather  it 
was  discouraged — sometimes  rather  emphatically. 


INTERIOR  VIEW  OF  COTTON  MILL. 

(A)  Opening;  room  showing  openers;  (B    carding  room  showing  cards  and  draw- 
ing frames;  (C)  lap  room  showing  lap  machines. 


CO'lTON  MANLFACTURIXG  IN  THE  SOUTH. 

(A)  White  Oak  Mills,  Greensboro,  N.  C,  the  largest  American  factory  for  the 
manufacture  of  blue  denims;  (B)  Olympia  Mills,  Columbia, S.  C,  one  of  the  largest 
in  the  South;   (C)  preparing  goorls  for  shipping. 


COTTON  313 

There  were  objections  to  the  class  of  people  it 
would  attract;  to  the  unwholesome  influence  of 
cotton  factory  life.  It  was  argued  that  the  South 
could  better  and  more  profitably  develop  the  side 
of  production,  and  leave  the  manufacturing  to  other 
places  and  to  other  people.  It  would  mean  more 
wholesome  living,  freer,  purer  life  combined  with 
individual  independence  and  National  safety.  No 
doubt  there  was  some  ground  for  these  arguments. 
The  laborer  was  needed  in  the  fields  and  could  be 
ill-spared  for  the  factory  and  its  incidental  duties. 
Production  was  to  be  developed;  it  was  the  basis 
on  which  the  factory  must  be  built;  why  cripple  it, 
to  engage  in  another  industry,  neither  so  desirable 
nor  so  profitable  ? 

As  a  consequence  of  this  unfavorable  sentiment, 
comparatively  few  mills  were  erected,  although 
some  of  those  in  the  South  were  of  considerable 
size  and  importance.  In  South  Carolina,  for  in- 
stance, a  factory  was  erected  as  early  as  1846  which 
"contained  8400  spindles  and  300  looms" — not 
a  large  one  for  our  day,  but  one  of  no  little  note  at 
the  time  it  was  built.  And  in  North  Carolina  in 
1844  "it  was  estimated  that  25  mills  represented 
a  capital  of  $1,050,000,  operated  50,000  spindles, 
employed  from  1200  to  1500  hands,  and  consumed 
15,000  bales  of  cotton."  But  for  the  development 
of  slavery,  Southern  cotton  manufacturing  would 
doubtless  have  overcome  all  objections  of  its  growth 
and  have  reached  its  present  important  position 
a  great  many  years  ago. 

RISE    OF    SOUTHERN    COTTON    FACTORIES 

As  it  is,  War  and  Reconstruction  demoralized 
everything,  and  the  great  development  in  Southern 


314 


COTTON 


cotton  manufacturing  has  occurred  during  the  past 
twenty  years.  Here  the  CaroHnas,  Georgia,  Ala- 
bama make  the  best  showing  chiefly  by  reason  of 
better  cKmatic  conditions  and  more  abundant 
water  power.  The  slow  development  during  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  and  the  rapid  progress 
made  within  the  last  score  of  years,  is  seen  in  the 
following  table  giving  the  number  of  mills  and 
spindles : 


SOUTH    CAROLINA 

NORTH    CAROLINA 

GEORGIA 

Year 

Mills 

Spindles 

Mills 

Spindles 

Mills 

Spindles 

1850 
1860 
1870 
1880 
1890 
1900 
1905 

18 
17 
12 
14 
44 
115 
161 

36,500 

30,890 

34,940 

82,424 

415,158 

1,908,692 

3,171,093 

28 

39 

33 

49 

105 

218 

263 

40,000 

41,884 

39,897 

100,209 

418,900 

1,428,066 

2,207,102 

35 
33 
34 
40 
62 
107 
129 

51,150 

85,186 

85,062 

198,656 

465,811 

1,016,258 

1,452,668 

ALABAMA 

Other  Southern  States 

Year 

Mills 

Spindles 

Mills 

Spindles 

1850 

12 

16,960 

77 

119,961 

1860 

14 

35,740 

69 

130,352 

1870 

13 

28,046 

62 

156,101 

1880 

16 

49,432 

44 

137,737 

1890 

17 

89,158 

55 

356,142 

1900 

49 

550,966 

87 

709,605 

1905 

66 

824,687 

88 

819,141 

RELATION    OF    CONSUMPTION    TO    PRODUCTION 


An  interesting  relationship  is  seen  when  the 
quantity  of  cotton  consumed  is  compared  with  the 
quantity  raised  in  each  of  these  four  leading  cotton 
manufacturing  States. 


COTTON 


315 


SOUTH    CAROLINA 


Year 

Bales  consumed 

Bales  produced 

Per  cent, 
of  Crop  used 

1850 

9,929 

300,901 

3.3 

1860 

8,648 

353,412 

2.4 

1870 

10,811 

224,500 

4.8 

1880 

33,624 

522,548 

6.4 

1890 

164,814 

859,000 

19.2 

1900 

501,290 

743,294 

67.4 

1905 

625,190 

1,100,837 

56.7 

It  is  seen  here  that  in  the  thirty  years  from  1850 
to  1880  South  Carolina  doubled  consumption  in 
proportion  to  her  production ;  in  the  next  ten  years 
this  increased  six  times;  while  in  1900  it  had  in- 
creased 25  times. 


NORTH    CAROLINA 


Per  cent. 

Year 

Bales  consumed 

Bales  produced 

of  Crop  used 

1850 

13,617 

73,845 

18.4 

1860 

13,045 

145,514 

8.3 

1870 

9,632 

144,935 

6.6 

1880 

27,642 

389,598 

7.1 

1890 

140,817 

588,000 

23.9 

1900 

408,338 

554,032 

73.7 

1905 

602,150 

664,934 

90.5 

In  1850  North  Carolina  consumed  slightly  over 
one-fifth  of  her  total  production  of  cotton.  Ten 
years  later  but  one-tenth  was  consumed.  This 
change  was  due  not  to  decreased  consumption 
but  to  the  fact  that  the  acreage  has  doubled.  It 
was  not  until  about  1890  that  consumption  in- 
creased on   production,  when   it    reached    nearly 


316 


COTTON 


one-fourth;  ten  years  later  consumption  called  for 
three-fourths  of  total  quantity  produced ;  five  years 
later,  in  1905,  almost  the  entire  quantity  produced 
was  consumed — or  its  equivalent — within  the  bor- 
ders of  the  State. 


ALABAMA 


Per  cent. 

Year 

Bales  consumed 

Bales  produced 

of  Crop  used 

1850 

5,208 

564,429 

.9 

1860 

11,406 

989,955 

1.2 

1870 

7,385 

429,482 

1.7 

1880 

14,702 

699,654 

2.1 

1890 

30,364 

1,011,000 

3.0 

1900 

157,832 

1,021,845 

15.4 

1905 

223,872 

1,249,685 

17.9 

GEORGIA 


Per  cent 

Year 

Bales  consumed 

Bales  produced 

of    Crop  used 

1850 

20,230 

499,491 

4.3 

1860 

30,235 

701,840 

4.1 

1870 

24,821 

437,934 

5.7 

1880 

71,389 

814,441 

8.8 

1890 

164,981 

1,310,000 

12.6 

1900 

365,878 

1,271,573 

28.1 

1905 

483,335 

1,759,000 

27.5 

COTTON 


317 


CONSUMPTION      AND      PRODUCTION      IN     SOUTHERN 
STATES 


Per  cent. 

Year 

Bales  consumed 

Bales  produced 

of  Crop 
used 

1850 

80,300 

2,469,093 

17.2 

1860 

101,688 

5,387,052 

3.3 

1870 

83,068 

3,011,994 

1.9 

1880 

188,398 

5,755,359 

2.8 

1890 

526,856 

7,472,511 

3.3 

1900 

1,570,812 

9,142,938 

7.1 

1905 

2,172,992 

10,697,013 

20.3 

This  table  shows  that  from  1850  to  1890  there 
was  little  gain  in  the  percentage  of  Southern  cotton 
manufactured  at  home.  While  the  quantity  con- 
sumed increased  all  the  while,  the  quantity  pro- 
duced likewise  increased,  much  of  the  time  in 
greater  ratio  than  the  increase  in  consumption. 
In  1890,  however,  as  indicated  in  the  table,  the 
percentage  manufactured  in  the  Southern  States 
was  more  than  twice  what  it  was  in  1880,  al- 
though the  production  had  itself  increased  as  much 
as  25  per  cent.  During  the  past  ten  years  the  con- 
sumption has  grown  very  rapidly. 


SOUTHERN      MANUFACTURING      FAVORS      THE 
PRODUCER 

Not  only  has  the  Southern  factory-owner  certain 
manifest  advantages  over  his  brother  in  New 
England,  but  the  cotton  farmer  is  also  a  gainer  in 
having  the  factory  at  his  door.  Since  New  York 
and  Liverpool  are  the  important  market  places  of 
the  world,  they  naturally  establish  prices,  and 
consequently  the  Southern  consumer  pays  prices 


318  COTTON 

similarly  offered  at  New  York.  Hence  the  pro- 
ducer practically  saves  this  item  of  expense  of 
freight  in  transportation. 

It  has  been  calculated  by  the  Industrial  Com- 
mission that  the  difference  in  cost  in  marketing 
cotton  is  as  follows : 

To  local  mill  from  farm,  50c  per  bale. 

To  Northern  or  Western  mill  from  farm,  $3.00 
per  bale. 

To  foreign  mill  from  farm,  $5.00  to  $7.00  per 
bale. 

Hence,  it  is  apparent  that  Southern  manufac- 
turing helps  the  producer  as  well  as  the  consumer. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


THE   MAKING  OF  COTTON  GOODS 

In  considering  which  is  our  most  important 
manufacturing  industry,  you  will  not  be  long  in 
coming  face  to  face  with  the  fact  that  next  to  food, 
clothing  is  a  first  necessity  of  mankind.  Many 
other  things  which  we  have  come  to  regard  as 
necessities  might  be  dispensed  with;  but  according 
to  the  old  Bible  story,  the  need  of  clothing  was  the 
first  thing  to  occur  to  our  first  parents  after  they 
had  eaten  of  the  tree  of  knowledge;  and  from  the 
primitive  fig-tree  costume  of  Adam  and  Eve  in  the 
Garden,  the  art  of  clothing  has  had  a  steady  and 
wonderful  evolution,  century  after  century,  genera- 
tion after  generation,  year  after  year.  The  savage 
man  has  his  passion  for  food,  but  the  desire  for 
clothing  is  the  first  step  toward  civilization,  and 
the  step  which  has  been  reached  in  attention  to 
dress  will  indicate  perhaps  as  closely  as  anything 
else  the  progress  a  people  has  made  away  from 
barbarism. 

So  it  is  that  in  clothing  the  earth's  teeming 
millions,  cotton  stands  forth  today  King  indeed, 
wool  and  hemp  having  but  a  small  place  in  com- 
parison— Cotton  triumphant  as  the  result  of  a  test 
running  through  the  ages!     And  every  operation 


320  COTTON 

from  growing  the  seed  to  manufacturing  the 
finished  cloth  is  full  of  interest  to  those  who  watch 
intelligently. 

The  first  step  in  cotton  manufacturing,  when 
cotton  arrives  at  the  mill  in  the  form  of  a  bale,  is 
the  openijig  process  which  consists  of  simply  re- 
moving the  ties  and  bagging  (a  fabric  made  of 
rope)  that  enclose  the  bale.  The  mixing  opera- 
tion is  next.  Were  all  cotton  just  alike,  and  of 
the  same  uniformity,  mixing  would  not  be  neces- 
sary, but  fiber  comes  from  lowlands  and  highlands, 
in  long  or  short  staple,  of  one  variety  or  many 
varieties;  so,  unless  thoroughly  mixed,  goods  of 
widely  varying  quality  will  be  produced. 

Many  bales  are  therefore  mixed  together,  by 
hand  or  by  machine,  the  purpose  all  the  time  being 
to  get  a  considerable  quantity  of  cotton  as  uniform 
in  quality  as  possible. 

From  here  cotton  goes  into  a  large  machine  that 
makes  the  lap,  or  gauzy  film  of  cotton — first 
sheets  of  fleece  three  or  four  feet  wide,  but  so 
very  thin  that  sand,  broken  leaves  and  other  im- 
purities drop  from  it  of  their  own  weight.  And 
this  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  the  lap  is  made — to 
rid  the  cotton  of  these  impurities,  else  yarn  would 
be  of  poor  quality.  Three  or  four  times  this  lap- 
ping process  is  repeated,  the  second  and  third 
machines  using  the  product  of  the  preceding  ones. 
As  a  rule,  four  laps  or  films  of  the  first  machine 
pass  through  the  second  machine  at  once.  All 
the  while  it  is  being  further  cleaned  and  prepared 
for  the  carding  machines. 

Up  to  this  point  there  has  been  no  change  in 
the  form  of  cotton.  It  has  been  opened  and  the 
heavy  impurities  have  fallen  out,  but  it  remains 
still  the  white,  fluffy,  fleecy  material — now  in  rib- 


MANUFACTURING. 

(A)  the  Fancy  Dobby  Loom ,  ( B;  cotton  commerce  calls  for  a  ^rcatmany  ctcam- 
ers  to  get  the  raw  cotton  abroad. 


COTTON   FABRK  S 

(A)  Sheeting;  (B)  print  cloth;  (C)  sateen;   (D)  Jancy  Dobby  Cloth;   (E)  Jac- 
guard  Cloth;  (F)  also  Jacauard  Cloth. 


COTTON  321 

bon  form  ready  to  go  into  a  large  roll  or  sheet, 
known   as   the   completed   "lap." 

CARDING 

The  carding  machine  receives  the  lap.  Its  series 
of  cylinders  covered  with  wire  brush  take  it  around 
their  course  and  deliver  it  at  the  front  of  the  ma- 
chine, now  in  the  shape  of  a  cord  of  untwisted 
cotton  known  as  the  sliver. 

And  here  you  see  a  beautiful  sight  indeed !  The 
fleecy  white  lap  rushes  eagerly  into  the  combs,  and  as 
quickly  disappears,  soon  again  coming  into  view, 
white  and  spotless  as  ever,  but  now  changed  in 
form,  for  it  has  become  a  long  round  cord  that  is 
by  and  by  to  be  the  thread  used  in  weaving  our 
cotton  fabrics. 

Next  the  sliver  goes  to  the  drawing-frame.  Here 
a  sort  of  doubling-up  work  is  to  be  done.  Some- 
thing like  six  slivers  or  untwisted  cords  are  fed  into 
the  machine,  out  of  which  comes  but  one,  but  that 
one  is  better  than  the  other  six,  for  the  fibers,  at- 
tenuated and  drawn  out,  are  now  more  nearly 
parallel,  more  even  and  uniform. 

While  the  sliver  that  leaves  the  drawing-frame 
is  but  a  sixth  of  the  size  of  all  that  entered  it,  it  is 
still  too  large  and  altogether  too  easily  broken; 
the  cord  must  be  lessened  in  size  and  twisted  a 
number  of  times  that  it  may  be  strong  and  even. 
This  work  can  be  done  only  gradually,  else  mis- 
haps will  occur  and  make  good  thread  an  impos- 
sibility. 

From  the  drawing  frame  the  sliver  goes  to  the 
slubber,  which  gives  it  its  first  twist,  reduces  it  in 
thickness,  renames  it  roving,  and  then  passes  the 
roving  on  to  the  intermediate  and  roving  frames. 


322  COTTON 

which  concludes  the  work  preparatory  to  having 
roving  spun  into  thread. 

SPINNING 

The  roving  is  now  transferred  to  a  spinning 
machine  for  the  final  process  of  making  the  yarn 
or  thread.  The  purpose  sought  here  is  fineness 
of  the  requisite  degree  and  the  twisting  and  wind- 
ing of  the  thread  to  make  it  ready  for  the  weaver. 
One  of  two  machines  may  do  the  work:  the  mule 
or  the  ring  frame,  either  of  which  makes  a  thread 
which  is  used  largely  without  further  treatment 
whatever. 

The  mule  is  used  for  the  finest  threads  that  are 
made,  and  also  for  soft  twisted  yarns  for  knitting 
purposes. 

The  thread  is  now  spun,  and  only  a  few  things 
remain  to  be  done  before  it  may  be  sent  to  factory 
and  used  in  the  loom. 

Spooling  comes  first,  a  simple  process  of  wind- 
ing yarn  from  spinners'  bobbins  on  spools  by 
means  of  the  spooler.  This  done,  it  is  now  passed 
on  to  the  warper.  Threads  are  laid  in  the  slasher- 
beam  that  sizing  may  be  done  in  order  to  facilitate 
weaving.  Sizing  is  made  of  starch,  tallow,  and 
some  preservative  to  prevent  mildew.  Finally  the 
threads  are  drawn  through  the  harness — for  weav- 
ing and  manufacturing  of  cloth  is  begun — an  oper- 
ation not  difficult  in  plain  goods.  But  as  yarns 
are  made  finer  and  more  fancy  cloth  produced, 
the  art  of  weaving  becomes  quite  complicated  and 
painstaking. 

WEAVING 

In  the  weaving  room  the  loom  is  the  all-import- 


COTTON  323 

ant  machine.  And  here  you  doubtless  recall  old 
traditions  that  have  come  down  through  your 
family  of  the  time  when  cotton  was  not  only  spun 
in  the  home  but  woven  there  as  well.  Now,  though 
the  hand  loom  and  the  spinning  wheel  have  al- 
most disappeared,  they  have  had  their  share  in 
history  making. 

As  has  been  suggested  before,  the  loom  uses  two 
sets  of  threads,  known  as  warp  and  filling.  The 
set  running  throughout  the  length  is  the  warp,  and 
those  threads  extending  from  side  to  side,  make 
the  filling,  weft,  or  woof. 

The  loom  works  on  the  principle  of  three  move- 
ments :  the  first  separates  the  threads  of  the  warp 
longitudinally  into  two  sets,  leaving  a  space  through 
which  to  pass  the  weft;  the  second  passes  the 
filling  through  that  space,  and  the  third  presses 
the  thread  of  filling  up  against  the  one  preceding 
it.  All  weaving  is  built  upon  this  principle, 
though  different  processes  have  been  employed  in 
making  the  different  fabrics. 

Looms  may  be  divided  into  three  classes:  plain 
looms,  (operated  either  by  hand  or  power),  fancy 
looms,  and  Jacquard  looms. 

An  important  part  of  the  power  loom  is  the 
harness.  This  is  simply  a  skeleton  frame  of  rods 
placed  parallel  to  one  another  on  which  are  a  series 
of  heddles,  with  eyes  at  the  center  through  which 
the  warp  threads  pass.  These  heddles  for  plain 
goods  are  generally  knit  from  cotton  with  an  eye 
through  the  center  and  varnished  so  as  to  work 
freely  through  the  threads.  As  the  number  of 
harnesses  is  increased,  weaving  becomes  more  com- 
plicated, and  produces  finer  cloth  and  more  costly 
fabrics. 

Plain  looms,  as  a  rule,  have  but  two  harness 


324  COTTON 

shafts,  though  there  may  be  as  many  as  six  when 
twills  and  sateen  are  made,  while  fancy  looms  and 
Jacquard  looms  possess  a  great  many  more — 
sometimes  as  many  as  twenty-five  or  thirty. 

The  harness  in  connection  with  the  hand  loom 
is  controlled  by  the  action  of  the  weaver's  foot  on 
the  treddles.  The  shuttle  is  propelled  by  hand, 
and  the  stroke  of  the  handle  or  batten,  usually 
hung  from  an  elevated  stand,  is  also  made  by 
hand. 

OPERATION    IN    WEAVING 

In  plain  weaving  all  threads  are  drawn  through 
the  harness  shafts.  In  the  middle  of  each  harness 
is  a  small  eye,  through  which  each  individual 
thread  is  drawn,  the  thread  passing  through  the 
harness  shafts  alternately.  On  the  front  harness 
shaft  you  will  find  one  of  these  and  another  on  the 
back.  This  enables  one-half  of  the  threads  to  be 
raised  in  one  pick  of  filling.  This  pick  simply 
lays  in  the  filling  thread,  which  is  accomplished  by 
the  shuttle  passing  between;  the  first  harness  is 
lowered  while  the  second  harness  is  raised,  and 
another  pick  of  filling  is  inserted.  This  operation 
goes  on,  one  thread  at  a  time,  until  the  desired 
length  of  cloth  is  woven. 

By  raising  the  warp  threads  in  the  fabric  diagon- 
ally, we  have  still  a  higher  step  in  weaving.  This 
is  known  as  drill  or  twill  weaving.  In  drill  weav- 
ing three  harnesses  are  used  usually,  and  in  twill 
four  or  more. 

The  making  of  sateen  is  another  step  in  advance; 
here  five  or  six,  or  even  eight,  harnesses  are  gener- 
ally used,  sometimes  as  many  as  twelve  or  four- 
teen.    You  are  familiar  with  the  lustrous  appear- 


COTTON^  325 

ance  of  this  style  of  goods.  This  is  obtained  by 
covering  the  intersections  of  warp  and  filHng. 
While  sateen  weaves  are  derived  from  twill  weaves, 
the  threads  are  not  raised  as  in  twills. 

Standard  gingham  cloth  is  made  from  two  colors 
of  warp  and  two  colors  of  filling,  checked  with  one 
another.  They  are  made  in  various  colors:  black 
and  white,  brown  and  white,  green  and  white,  and 
in  other  combinations  of  colors.  These  ginghams 
are  also  used  as  the  basis  for  plaids  or  over-checks, 
so  that  in  this  kind  of  weaving  many  fancy  effects 
in  colors  are  produced,  requiring  more  skill  for 
operation,  and  enhancing  the  value  of  the  woven 
product.  Fancy  effects  may  be  made  in  stripes, 
checks,  or  figures. 

Mercerized  cloth  is  also  made  of  cotton,  and 
both  plain  and  fancy  effects  may  be  made.  The 
silky  appearance  of  the  product  is  obtained  by 
imn  ersing  cotton  threads  in  a  solution  of  caustic 
sod  I,  and  while  thus  immersed  they  are  held  very 
tig  it.  These  threads  are  two  ply,  that  is,  two 
twisted  together.  Before  being  immersed  in  the 
caustic  soda  solution  they  are  passed  through  a 
gas  frame  (this  being  done  very  quickly,  so  as  not 
to  injure  the  thread)  to  take  off  the  roughness  so 
that  the  smooth  texture  may  be  obtained.  In 
weaving  fancy  goods  threads  may  be  drawn  through 
the  harness  shaft  in  any  order,  depending  on  the 
pattern  to  be  produced. 

There  are  many  grades  of  fancy  cloth  produced, 
depending  upon  the  design,  the  quality  of  the 
thread,  number  of  harnesses  the  machine  possesses, 
and  the  skill  of  the  operator.  Weavers  call  the 
machine  that  makes  fancy  goods  a  "Dobby." 

A  still  further  advance  in  the  production  of 
fancy  cloth  has  come  with  the  invention  of  the 


326  COTTON 

Jacquard  loom,  a  machine  named  after  a  French- 
man who  was  its  inventor.  The  fabrics  pro- 
duced on  the  Jacquard  vary  considerably  in  extent. 
Any  kind  of  animal,  vegetable,  or  floral  effect  may 
be  produced  upon  the  cloth.  This  kind  of  prod- 
uct usually  sells  at  a  higher  price  than  any  other 
fancy  cloth.  Fancy  fabrics,  such  as  shirt  waists, 
dress  goods,  table  covers,  and  the  like,  are  woven 
by  this  machine. 

CLASSES    OF    COTTON    GOODS 

In  a  general  way  we  may  say  that  five  different 
kinds  of  cotton  goods  are  made  through  the  use  of 
these  several  kinds  of  machines. 

1.  Plain  Goods: — We  find  here  print  cloth, 
sheeting,  mull,  lawn,  Madras,  nainsook,  tea  cloth, 
etc.  The  only  difference  in  these  kinds  of  cloth 
lies  in  the  number  of  threads,  picks  per  inch,  the 
fineness  of  the  yarn,  and  the  finish  given  after 
weaving.  American  cotton  may  be  used  for  all  of 
these  weaves  excepting  Madras,  for  which  purpose 
Sea  Island  or  Egyptian  cotton  is  required. 

2.  Twills: — These  fabrics,  having  lines  running 
diagonally  across,  include  different  kinds  of  linings 
such  as  those  used  for  men's  coats,  women's  coats, 
dress  linings,  and  the  like.  This  weave  is  also 
extensively  used  for  denim,  out  of  which  overalls 
and  other  coarse  goods  are  made. 

3.  Sateen: — This  style  of  fabric  is  used  quite 
extensively  for  shirt  waists,  dress  linings,  and 
dress  goods. 

4.  Fancy  Cloth: — The  greater  part  of  the  cloth 
used  for  children's  dresses,  women's  shirt  waists 
and  dresses,  various  kinds  of  trimmings,  scrim  for 
draperies  and  heavy  towels,  are  included  in  this 
class. 


COTTON  327 

5.  Jacquard  Fabrics: — Included  in  this  class  are 
the  most  complicated  forms  of  fancy  fabrics.  They 
are  also  used  for  cloths  suitable  for  making  shirt 
waists,  dress  goods,  bed  spreads,  table  covers, 
and  novelties. 

While  cotton  is  used  for  many  other  purposes  as 
thread  and  underwear,  the  greater  part  of  it  goes 
into  such  commercial  goods  as  have  been  mentioned 
here. 

RELATIVE    VALUES    IN    COTTON    MANUFACTURING 

Of  course  plain  weaving,  since  it  requires  less 
skill  and  involves  less  complication  than  other 
forms,  possesses  the  least  commercial  value. 
Sheeting  may  be  taken  as  an  example.  It  sells 
for  five  cents  a  yard,  although  only  one  pound  of 
cotton  is  required  to  make  three  or  four  or  even 
five  yards  of  cloth — depending  upon  the  weight.  In 
this  respect  then,  a  pound  of  cotton  bought  at  ten 
cents  a  pound  is  sold,  when  manufactured,  at 
eighteen  or  twenty  cents  a  pound. 

On  the  contrary,  embroidery,  one  of  the  highest 
forms  of  cotton  goods  manufactured,  sells  at 
twenty  dollars  a  pound.  The  skill  required  in  its 
manufacture,  the  complications  of  the  various 
processes,  have  made  from  a  single  pound  of  cot- 
ton (of  the  best  quality,  of  course)  a  pound  now 
worth  twenty  dollars.  All  other  cotton  goods  on 
the  market  have  a  commercial  value  ranging  in 
price  from  that  of  the  lowest  grade  of  sheeting  to 
that  of  the  highest  forms  of  embroidery. 

WHAT   A    POUND    OF    COTTON   WILL   MAKE 

Cotton  weaving  yarns  are  made  and  sold  by 
the  pound.     The  finer  the  threads,  the  greater  the 


328  COTTON 

number  of  yards  in  a  pound.  Hence,  any  fabric 
varies  in  cost,  and  in  the  number  of  yards  made 
from  a  pound  of  raw  cotton  in  proportion  to  the 
fineness  of  the  yarn  from  which  it  is  woven. 

Taking  averages  only,  one  pound  of  cotton 
worth  ten  cents  may  be  manufactured  into: 

1^  yards  of  Denim  worth  18  cents. 

4    yards  of  Sheeting  worth  20  cents. 

4  yards  of  Bleached  Muslin  worth  32  cents. 

7  yards  of  Calico  worth  35  cents. 

6  yards  of  Gingham  worth  45  cents. 

10  yards  of  Shirtwaists  worth  $1.50. 

10  yards  of  Lawn  worth  $2.50. 

25  Handkerchiefs  worth  $2.50. 

56  spools  of  No.  40  Sewing  Thread  worth  $2.80. 

In  giving  these  figures  only  an  estimate  of  the 
number  of  yards  can  be  made.  This  will  vary 
according  to  the  fineness  of  the  yarns,  the  number 
of  threads,  and  "picks"  per  inch  in  the  cloth. 

The  threads  that  are  used  in  weaving  are  known 
as  "numbers"  or  "counts."  The  thinner  the 
thread  the  greater  the  number  it  will  have.  This 
matter  may  be  stated  thus :  A  pound  of  cotton  is 
passed  through  all  the  preparatory  machines  in  the 
mill — lapping,  carding,  drawing,  slubbing,  and  spin- 
ning; if  this  one  pound  of  raw  cotton  is  made  into 
one  thread  measuring  840  yards  the  "number"  or 
"counts"  of  the  thread  will  be  1.  If  a  pound  of 
cotton  is  drawn  out  to  1680  yards  the  "counts"  will 
be  doubled.  So  a  pound  of  cotton  may  be  drawn 
out  to  almost  any  desired  length,  making  the  fabric 
(with  which  the  threads  are  woven)  vary  in  weight 
according  to  the  thickness  of  the  threads.  It  is 
a  common  occurrence  to  spin  a  pound  of  cotton 
into  84,000  yards  of  thread  or  even  to  a  length 
exceeding  one  hundred  miles. 


COTTON  329 

In  this  chapter,  of  course,  only  a  mere  outline  of 
fundamental  facts  has  been  attempted,  and  any 
adequate  treatment  of  the  subject  would  require 
an  entire  volume.  But  we  hope  it  has  enabled  the 
reader  to  get  a  better  idea  of  the  cotton  fiber  in  its 
final  phase  preparatory  to  entering  on  its  destiny 
in  clothing  mankind. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

conclusion: — the  epic  of  the  cotton  that  is 

YET   TO    be   written 

We  have  now  followed  the  progress  of  the  cotton 
plant — ^followed  it  in  history  from  the  time  the 
ancient  disciples  of  Brahma  in  the  Orient  first 
began  its  use;  followed  it  in  growing  from  the  time 
the  seed  is  put  into  the  cool,  fresh  earth  in  spring 
until  its  snowy  harvest  is  gathered  in  December; 
followed  it  in  marketing  and  manufacturing  from 
the  time  it  passes  through  Whitney's  gin  until  the 
once-rejected  seed  are  turned  to  a  thousand 
growing  uses  of  mankind  and  the  lint  is  set  to  its 
task  of  making  prince's  palace  more  gorgeous  or 
beggar's  body  more  comfortable;  followed  it  in 
commerce  from  the  sunny  fields  of  Texas  or 
Mississippi  to  the  frozen  regions  of  the  Arctic  or 
the  sleeping  Empire  of  the  Celestials,  or  to  our  new- 
caught,  sullen  peoples  in  far-away  Asia  or  Africa. 

And  yet  we  have  not  written,  as  we  should  like  to 
write,  the  real  Epic  of  the  Cotton.  In  fact,  it 
cannot  be  written  yet,  for  we  have  not  yet  come  to  a 
realization  of  the  full  significance  of  the  South 's 
great    industry. 

It  is  indeed  a  rich  heritage  that  we  have — a 
monopoly  of  the  American  export  crop  which  not 
only  surpasses  any  other  in  value,  but  is  worth  more 
than  all  others  combined;  a  monopoly  of  the  one 

(330) 


COTTON  331 

great  crop  of  the  world  for  which  Nature  has  pro- 
vided no  substitute;  the  basis  of  a  commerce  whose 
influence  is  measured  only  by  the  rising  tide  of 
enlightenment  and  whose  condition  is  the  ther- 
mometer of  civilization;  the  crop  which,  when 
properly  handled,  is  of  all  our  crops  the  one  least 
exhaustive  of  the  land's  fertility,  and  which  yields 
a  seed  that  would  in  itself  make  cotton  worth 
cultivating  if  it  had  no  Fleece  of  Gold  to  keep  its 
tens  of  thousands  of  modern  Argonauts  upon  our 
every  sea;  yielding  the  richest  of  cattle  feeds,  it  will 
yet  dot  the  hills  and  valleys  of  the  South  with  a 
million  flocks  and  herds,  and  so  restore  our  fam- 
ished "old  fields"  to  virgin  richness  and  beauty; 
our  manufacture  of  cotton,  now  only  begun,  will 
also  grow  in  the  Piedmont  South  until  the  hum  of 
our  spindles  shall  be  heard  as  far  as  those  of 
England  herself ;  and  the  Panama  Canal  will  soon  for 
the  first  time  open  full  the  doors  of  the  Orient  to  our 
commerce,  and  Southern  industry  will  throb  afresh, 
as  if  new  blood  had  been  poured  into  its  veins. 
Then,  indeed,  shall  we  have  a  section  sunny  in 
climate,  in  people,  in  prospects;  we  shall  add  to 
the  chivalry  and  courage  of  the  Old  South  the 
progress  and  prosperity  of  the  New — and  in  the 
coming  literary  awakening,  some  more  gifted 
author  will  at  last  write  the  real  Epic  of  the  Cotton, 
and  in  American  letters  the  South's  own  snowy 
fields  will  become  as  famous  as  New  England's 
gifted  sons  and  daughters  have  made  the  ice  fields 
of  the  colder  North. 


D.   H.   HILL  LIBRARY 

North  Carolina  State  College 


